DMP '25 Week06 and Midterm progress report by Harshit Verma (#309)

* DMP '25 Week06 Update by Harshit Verma

* Add midterm progress report

Author: therealharshit

src/constants/MarkdownFiles/posts/2025-07-14-dmp-25-therealharshit-week06.md

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+---
+title: "DMP ’25 Week 06 Update by Harshit Verma"
+excerpt: "I added a new step to help students understand their code’s intent before debugging begins. I also worked on improving the terminal’s formatting and finalized Mistral 7B as the debugging model to be integrated with Sugar AI"
+category: "DEVELOPER NEWS"
+date: "2025-07-14"
+slug: "2025-07-14-dmp-25-therealharshit-week06"
+author: "@/constants/MarkdownFiles/authors/harshit-verma.md"
+tags: "dmp25,sugarlabs,week06,midterm,therealharshit"
+image: "assets/Images/c4gt_DMP.png"
+---
+
+<!-- markdownlint-disable -->
+
+# Week 06 Progress Report by Harshit Verma
+
+**Project:** [LLM-powered Debugger for Pippy](https://github.com/sugarlabs/Pippy/issues/95)  
+**Mentors:** [Walter Bender](https://github.com/walterbender), [Ibiam Chihurumnaya](https://github.com/chimosky), [Kshitij Shah](https://github.com/kshitijdshah99)  
+**Assisting Mentors:** [Devin Ulibarri](https://github.com/pikurasa)  
+**Reporting Period:** 2025-07-07 - 2025-07-13   
+
+---
+
+## Goals for This Week
+
+- **Goal 1:** Work on contextualization before debugging.
+- **Goal 2:** Add CSS-style formatting to the debugging terminal.
+- **Goal 3:** Finalize model decision for debugging.
+
+---
+
+## This Week’s Achievements
+
+1. **Implemented Code Context Display for Learners**  
+   - As discussed in the debugging meeting, added a step that shows the context or purpose of the code to the student, helping them understand what the code is trying to do before showing debug suggestions.
+   - This helps children first grasp what the code is meant to do, which builds confidence and improves the effectiveness of the debugging tips that follow.
+   - Introduced a new step in the debugging flow: before showing any suggestions, the interface displays a brief summary of the code’s intent or functionality.
+
+2. **Worked on Debug Terminal Formatting**  
+   - Tried to apply CSS-like styles to make debug output more structured and visually appealing.
+   - GTK limitations posed challenges, continued work on enhancing the Markdown parser instead.
+
+3. **Finalize model decision for debugging**  
+   - Decided to use **Mistral 7B**, which will be integrated with Sugar AI for better compatibility and performance.
+   - Based on performance tests and Sugar AI's deployment pipeline, It offers a good balance of output quality and resource efficiency for server-side use.
+
+---
+
+## Challenges & How I Overcame Them
+
+- **Challenge:** Styling Virtual Terminal Emulator (VTE) output with CSS.  
+  **Solution:** Learned that we can't apply CSS to the VTE terminal output as they are not GTK widget, so I decided to work on further improving the markdown parser.
+
+---
+
+## Key Learnings
+
+- Learned how code contextualization can help beginner coders by giving them an idea of what the code should do, and it also improves their ability to understand and fix problems.
+- Developed a design-focused mindset for user-centric debugging tools.
+
+---
+
+## Next Week’s Roadmap
+
+- Start working on replacing pippy-debugger-server with sugar-ai.
+- Start working on saving debug history to Sugar Journal.
+- Work on preparing a presentation as part of DMP midterm evaluation.
+
+---
+
+# Midterm Progress Report (6 Week Summary)
+
+## Project Objective
+
+The goal of this project is to enhance the Pippy learning environment by integrating an LLM-powered debugger. The debugger uses LLMs to provide readable, friendly suggestions for fixing broken code, helping young learners understand and improve their programs.
+
+---
+
+## Technical Implementation
+
+- Set up a **FastAPI backend** (`/debug`) to handle Python code input.
+
+- Integrated **Hugging Face model** for generating debugging tips.
+
+- Created **Run & Debug** buttons in Pippy’s GTK interface.
+
+- Connected **Pippy**  with the backend server via API.
+
+- Implemented a **Debug terminal** in the UI to display suggestions.
+
+- Developed a **basic Markdown parser** for formatted output in VTE.
+
+- Added a **Contextualization step** to show students what the code intends to do before debugging begins.
+
+---
+
+## Research & Design
+
+- Explored multiple **UI layouts** for debug output.
+
+- Tested different **LLM prompts** for clarity and simplicity.
+
+- Held discussions on **Debugging best practices for children**.
+
+- Evaluated models and selected **Mistral 7B** for deployment via Sugar AI.
+
+---
+
+## Project Demo
+ 
+Please watch the project demo to see the progress I've made so far.  
+[Watch here](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-FHfsd0YiOZ2Fb7V7HeSswcga89jEvos/view?usp=drive_link)
+
+---
+
+## Resources & References
+
+**Repository**
+- [Pippy](https://github.com/therealharshit/Pippy/tree/DMP2025/Pippy-Debugger)
+- [sugar-ai](https://github.com/sugarlabs/sugar-ai)
+- [pippy-debugger-server](https://github.com/therealharshit/pippy-debugger-server)
+
+---
+
+## Acknowledgments
+
+Thank you to my mentors, the Sugar Labs community, and fellow contributors for your continued guidance and support!
+
+---