[python-nl] Debugging tactics

[Tim Molendijk]

Hey all,

At the recent PUN in Amsterdam I did a short session on tactics for
debugging web apps in Python and Django, based on my personal experiences
from working on http://SmartPR.nl/. There was a lot of interesting input
from the audience, which I would like to share with you all here:

   - print or logging
   - the Python debugger (pdb) or its enhanced variant ipdb:
   http://pypi.python.org/pypi/ipdb/0.1dev-r1716
   - django-debug-toolbar; a Django app providing a feedback bar overlaying
   your web app: http://github.com/robhudson/django-debug-toolbar
   - Werkzeug's interactive debugger page:
   http://werkzeug.pocoo.org/documentation/0.5.1/debug.html.
   django-command-extensions (another Django app) provides a test server with
   Werkzeug's debugger baked in:
   http://code.google.com/p/django-command-extensions/
   - Winpdb is an interactive debugger with a GUI, which can be attached to
   a Python process. This means you can do live debugging on a web app that is
   running exactly like it would be running in production. I've tried this
   approach myself last week and it works pretty neat. It might be a bit of a
   hassle to get Winpdb running, as it depends on wxPython, but on OS X I got
   it working pretty quickly using MacPorts.
   http://pypi.python.org/pypi/winpdb/1.3.8
   - Pydev (Eclipse plugin): http://pydev.org/
   - Then there were some tips for web app testing clients:
      - Twill: http://pypi.python.org/pypi/twill/0.9
      - zc.testbrowser: http://pypi.python.org/pypi/zc.testbrowser/1.0.0a5
      - Selenium: http://seleniumhq.org/

To me the result of my lightning talk has already been extremely useful. I
hope it will do the same for some other people.

Cheers,
Tim


--
http://timmolendijk.nl • http://twitter.com/timmolendijk
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