# DebugTA: An LLM-Based Agent for Simplifying Debugging and Teaching in Programming Education

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.11076 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.11076/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Software engineering coding agents, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use.
- Builds on 27 of its 51 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 13 Oct 2025.

## Placed in

- LLM agents and tool use / [Software engineering coding agents](https://mlsanity.com/agents/software-engineering-coding-agents/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 27 of 27)

- [Evaluating Large Language Models Trained on Code](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.03374/) (2021)
- [DeepSeek-Coder: When the Large Language Model Meets Programming -- The Rise of Code Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.14196/) (2024)
- [Teaching Large Language Models to Self-Debug](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.05128/) (2023)
- [DeepSeek-Coder-V2: Breaking the Barrier of Closed-Source Models in Code Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.11931/) (2024)
- [Large Language Models for Education: A Survey and Outlook](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.18105/) (2024)
- [Debug like a Human: A Large Language Model Debugger via Verifying Runtime Execution Step-by-step](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.16906/) (2024)
- [Simulating Classroom Education with LLM-Empowered Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.19226/) (2024)
- [CodeAid: Evaluating a Classroom Deployment of an LLM-based Programming Assistant that Balances Student and Educator Needs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.11314/) (2024)
- [Multilingual Large Language Models Are Not (Yet) Code-Switchers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.14235/) (2023)
- [Generative Students: Using LLM-Simulated Student Profiles to Support Question Item Evaluation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.11591/) (2024)
- [Iterative Refinement of Project-Level Code Context for Precise Code Generation with Compiler Feedback](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.16792/) (2024)
- [EduAgent: Generative Student Agents in Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.07963/) (2024)
- [Explainable Automated Debugging via Large Language Model-driven Scientific Debugging](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.02195/) (2023)
- [LeDex: Training LLMs to Better Self-Debug and Explain Code](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.18649/) (2024)
- [Teach AI How to Code: Using Large Language Models as Teachable Agents for Programming Education](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.14534/) (2023)
- [Exploiting Cognitive Structure for Adaptive Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.12470/) (2019)
- [MathVC: An LLM-Simulated Multi-Character Virtual Classroom for Mathematics Education](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.06711/) (2024)
- [UniDebugger: Hierarchical Multi-Agent Framework for Unified Software Debugging](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.17153/) (2024)
- [Large Language Models of Code Fail at Completing Code with Potential Bugs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.03438/) (2023)
- [Evaluating the Effectiveness of LLMs in Introductory Computer Science Education: A Semester-Long Field Study](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.13414/) (2024)
- [RethinkMCTS: Refining Erroneous Thoughts in Monte Carlo Tree Search for Code Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.09584/) (2024)
- [Embracing Imperfection: Simulating Students with Diverse Cognitive Levels Using LLM-based Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.19997/) (2025)
- [CodeApex: A Bilingual Programming Evaluation Benchmark for Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.01940/) (2023)
- [CREF: An LLM-based Conversational Software Repair Framework for Programming Tutors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.13972/) (2024)
- [COAST: Enhancing the Code Debugging Ability of LLMs through Communicative Agent Based Data Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.05006/) (2024)
- [RGD: Multi-LLM Based Agent Debugger via Refinement and Generation Guidance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.01242/) (2024)
- [Better Debugging: Combining Static Analysis and LLMs for Explainable Crashing Fault Localization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.12070/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

In programming education, Debugging and Teaching (DT) task is a common scenario where students receive assistance in correcting their erroneous code. The task involves multiple inputs, including erroneous code, error messages, reference solutions, and the question description, with the goal of generating modification suggestions to the erroneous code. However, two key challenges hinder the effectiveness of existing approaches. Firstly, the complexity and heterogeneity of inputs inherent in DT tasks significantly elevate the reasoning challenges faced by LLMs. Second, existing approaches often fail to fully leverage the availability of standard code in DT tasks, forcing models to rely solely on complex multi-step reasoning, which limits the potential of LLMs in addressing DT tasks effectively. To address these challenges, we propose DebugTA, a novel LLM-based debugging and teaching agent with specialized tools for standard code retrieval, variable substitution to align reference code, and an external compiler for real-time code analysis. Guided by explicit pedagogical and debugging principles, DebugTA acts as an agent that decomposes a complex task into sequential LLM interactions, each utilizing distinct tools for specific subtasks, thereby simplifying the logical reasoning at each step and reducing overall reasoning complexity. Furthermore, DebugTA utilizes tool calls to align the standard code with the erroneous code as much as possible, allowing the LLM to focus on logic errors within the erroneous code and improving the accuracy of the generated suggestions. To rigorously assess the quality of modification suggestions, we introduce a student simulator-teacher interaction paradigm. Experimental results on three real-world code datasets demonstrate that DebugTA consistently improves teaching effectiveness while significantly reducing computational costs.