Debugging flags [was: Re: PEP 285: Adding a bool type]

[phil hunt]

On Mon, 1 Apr 2002 08:05:24 -0500, Steve Holden <sholden at holdenweb.com> wrote:
>"phil hunt" <philh at comuno.freeserve.co.uk> wrote ...
>[...]
>> I've gone through some of my herbivore code, looking to see where
>> I've used 0 or 1 as a boolean. Example 1:
>>
>> debug = 0  # debugging this module?
>>
>> Frankly, if that is unclear to anyone, they are not cut out to be a
>> programmer. Bear in mind that most non-programmers are aware of the
>> 0/1 paradigm for boolean values: it appears on much electrical
>> equipment.
>>
>I find it much more helpful to use
>
>    debug = (1, 2, 7, 93) # debugging parsing, tree build, code generation
>and error messages
>
>with corresponding tests like
>
>    if 7 in debug:
>        ...

I do that for logging. The debug flags are specific to a particular 
module: they switch debugging on or off for that module, which is 
all the granularity I need.


-- 
<"><"><"> Philip Hunt <philh at comuno.freeserve.co.uk> <"><"><">
"I would guess that he really believes whatever is politically 
advantageous for him to believe." 
                        -- Alison Brooks, referring to Michael
                              Portillo, on soc.history.what-if