Path: csiph.com!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!not-for-mail From: Christopher Reimer Newsgroups: comp.lang.python Subject: Re: How much sanity checking is required for function inputs? Date: Sun, 17 Apr 2016 21:04:04 -0700 Lines: 29 Message-ID: References: <5713E52D.3060407@icloud.com> <57145CB4.5040100@icloud.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: news.uni-berlin.de bJSXvlFJ9aACdHfFRBANnwmR9G13JTnAWqTjGYskG/jQ== Return-Path: X-Original-To: python-list@python.org Delivered-To: python-list@mail.python.org X-Spam-Status: OK 0.003 X-Spam-Evidence: '*H*': 0.99; '*S*': 0.00; 'key.': 0.07; 'sanity': 0.07; 'subject:How': 0.09; 'explicitly': 0.15; '...,': 0.16; 'coordinates': 0.16; 'dictionary,': 0.16; 'elsewhere,': 0.16; 'java.': 0.16; 'keyerror': 0.16; 'len': 0.16; 'locating': 0.16; 'pythonic': 0.16; 'received:io': 0.16; 'received:psf.io': 0.16; 'subject:required': 0.16; 'wrote:': 0.16; 'string': 0.17; 'board.': 0.18; 'tests': 0.18; 'variable': 0.18; 'library': 0.20; 'color,': 0.22; 'constant': 0.22; "haven't": 0.24; 'thanks,': 0.24; 'examples': 0.24; 'header:User-Agent:1': 0.26; 'chris': 0.26; 'checking': 0.27; 'question': 0.27; 'pieces': 0.27; 'received:17': 0.27; '(it': 0.29; 'checking.': 0.29; 'quarter': 0.29; "i'm": 0.30; 'classes': 0.30; 'code': 0.30; '(i.e.,': 0.30; 'checks': 0.30; 'class.': 0.30; 'compared': 0.30; "i'd": 0.31; 'received:10.0.0': 0.32; 'common': 0.33; 'michael': 0.33; 'received:10.0': 0.34; 'list': 0.34; 'could': 0.35; 'unit': 0.35; 'should': 0.36; 'to:addr:python-list': 0.36; 'subject:?': 0.36; 'pm,': 0.36; 'subject:: ': 0.37; 'received:10': 0.37; 'two': 0.37; 'turn': 0.37; 'anything': 0.38; 'why': 0.39; 'does': 0.39; 'rather': 0.39; 'to:addr:python.org': 0.40; 'header:MIME- version:1': 0.60; 'your': 0.60; "you'll": 0.61; 'positions': 0.64; 'color': 0.67; 'header:In-reply-to:1': 0.84; 'subject:much': 0.91 X-Proofpoint-Virus-Version: vendor=fsecure engine=2.50.10432:,, definitions=2016-04-18_04:,, signatures=0 X-Proofpoint-Spam-Details: rule=notspam policy=default score=0 spamscore=0 clxscore=1015 suspectscore=1 malwarescore=0 phishscore=0 adultscore=0 bulkscore=0 classifier=spam adjust=0 reason=mlx scancount=1 engine=8.0.1-1510270003 definitions=main-1604180060 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; WOW64; rv:38.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/38.7.2 In-reply-to: X-BeenThere: python-list@python.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.21 Precedence: list List-Id: General discussion list for the Python programming language List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-Mailman-Original-Message-ID: <57145CB4.5040100@icloud.com> X-Mailman-Original-References: <5713E52D.3060407@icloud.com> Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.python:107239 On 4/17/2016 3:18 PM, Michael Selik wrote: > I'd rather turn the question around: how much sanity checking is > necessary or useful? You'll find the answer is "surprisingly little" > compared to your experience in Java. I'm looking for a pythonic approach to sanity checking. From what I read elsewhere, sanity checking belongs in the unit tests and/or library classes designed for other people to use. I haven't seen many examples of sanity checks that is common in Java. > For example, you don't need to > explicitly check whether the color is present in your dictionary, > because it'll give you a KeyError if you look up a bad key. Without the sanity check against the constant dictionary, the color variable could be anything (it should be a string value). Looking at the code again, I should relocate the sanity checks in the Piece base class. > Why does the len of positions need to be 16? The positions variable is list of coordinates for 16 chess pieces (eight pawns, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, a king and a queen) for each color, locating the pieces on either the bottom quarter (i.e., [(1,1), ..., (2,8)]) or the top quarter (i.e., [(7,1), ..., (8,8)]) of the board. Thanks, Chris R.