[Python-Dev] pdb mini-sprint report and questions

[Guido van Rossum]

On Fri, Jul 30, 2010 at 3:45 PM, Georg Brandl <g.brandl at gmx.net> wrote:
> to warm up for tomorrow's 3.2alpha1 release, I did a mini-sprint on
> pdb issues today.  I'm pleased to report that 14 issues could be closed,
> and pdb got a range of small new features, such as commands on the
> command line, "until <lineno>" or "longlist" showing all the code for the
> current function (the latter courtesy of Antonio Cuni's pdb++).
>
> One issue that's not yet closed is #7245, which adds a (very nice IMO)
> feature: when you press Ctrl-C while the program being debugged runs,
> you will not get a traceback but execution is suspended, and you can
> debug from the current point of execution -- just like in gdb.
>
> However, there were apparently issues with some of the buildbots when
> the patch was applied for a short time.  I also don't know how and if
> it works on Windows, so I'd need some helpful people testing it.
>
> Another question is about a feature of pdb++ that I personally would
> like, but imagine would make others unhappy:  one-letter abbreviations
> of commands such as c(ontinue) or l(ist) are also often-used variable
> names, so they are frequently typed without the required "!" or "print"
> that would distinguish them from the command, and the command is
> actually executed.  The feature in question would default to printing
> the variable in cases where one exists -- handy enough or too
> inconsistent?

Warning: 'p' is *not* the same as 'print'. 'p' is a built-in command
that prints the expression's repr(). 'print' OTOH falls back through
the interpreter and executes a print statement or function, which
prints the str().

For me personally, the problem this feature tries to address is never
a problem (of course I am probably unique as far as pdb users go :-)
so I'd like a way to turn it off.

> Also, are there any other features you would like to see?  One feature
> of pdb++ that is general enough and has no dependencies would be watch
> expressions...

Cool.

-- 
--Guido van Rossum (python.org/~guido)