Day 03 Testing

Testing, Debugging & Code Review

Claude Code's most underused capability is turning it into a testing and debugging partner. Today you generate tests, debug errors from stack traces, and use Claude as a code reviewer — the workflow that catches bugs before they reach production.

~1 hour Day 3 of 5 Hands-on Precision AI Academy

Today's Objective

By the end of this lesson you will ask Claude to generate a test suite for an existing function, debug a stack trace by pasting it directly into Claude, use Claude for a structured code review against a checklist, and set up a workflow where tests run automatically after each edit.

01

test generation

test generation is the foundation of Day 3. Every concept that follows builds on the mental model you establish here. The most effective approach is to understand the principle first, then apply it — skipping straight to implementation creates gaps that compound into confusion later.

Work through each example in this lesson sequentially. The concepts connect, and the order is deliberate. If something is unclear, slow down at that point rather than pushing past it — a ten-minute pause now saves hours of debugging later.

01
test generation
The core concept for today. Master this before moving to the next section.
02
debugging with Claude
The practical application that connects theory to working code.
03
code review
The integration step — where the day's concepts work together.
04
Common Errors
The mistakes that trip up beginners. Know them before you encounter them.
02

debugging with Claude in Practice

Understanding test generation requires seeing it in motion. The code below is not a complete application — it is a minimal, working illustration of the key mechanism. Study the pattern, run it, break it deliberately, then fix it. That cycle builds real comprehension.

Read before you run. Trace through the code mentally first. Identify what each section does. Then run it and compare your mental model to the actual output. The gap between expectation and result is where learning happens.

Once the basic pattern works, the logical next step is debugging with Claude. This is where the abstraction becomes useful — you move from understanding the mechanism to applying it to real problems. The transition is usually smaller than it feels. Most of the hard work happened in Section 1.

03

code review

code review completes today's picture. It is where test generation and debugging with Claude converge into a pattern you can apply to novel problems. This integration step is often where the day's learning consolidates — if the earlier sections felt abstract, this one typically makes them click.

Without debugging with Claud

Fragile and Incomplete

Implementing test generation alone handles the happy path. Real systems encounter edge cases, invalid input, and unexpected state. Missing debugging with Claude means missing those guards.

With debugging with Claud

Robust and Production-Ready

Combining test generation with debugging with Claude gives you a complete, defensible implementation. The extra lines cost ten minutes; the robustness they add is worth hours of debugging time.

Do not skip TDD with AI. The final section of today ties the concepts together into a complete, tested implementation. Stopping early leaves you with fragments instead of a working mental model.
04

Common Errors and How to Avoid Them

Several mistakes appear consistently when engineers encounter Testing, Debugging, and Code Review for the first time. Recognizing them now costs nothing; encountering them in production costs hours.

Accelerate with the Live Bootcamp

Two intensive days (Thu–Fri) with an instructor who has taught thousands of engineers. Cohorts in 5 cities, June–June–October 2026 (Thu–Fri).

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Supporting Resources & Reading

Go deeper with these external references.

Day 3 Checkpoint

Before moving on, you should be able to answer these without looking:

Continue To Day 4
Building Full Features