Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]

Groups > comp.lang.python > #6476

Re: The worth of comments

Show all headers | View raw

On Sat, May 28, 2011 at 11:36 PM, Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> wrote:
> def foo():
>   "Raise IndexError.  This is useful as a testing fixture."
>   l = [1, 2, 3]
>   return l[3]

A quite useful thing, on occasion. I have a couple of variants of
this, actually. In one of my C++ programs:

extern char *death1; extern int death2; //Globals for killing things with

// further down, inside a function:
case "death1": *death1=42; break; //Die by dereferencing NULL
case "death2": return 42/death2; //Die by dividing by zero

They were designed to verify the parent-process code that was meant to
catch process termination and identify the cause, so I wanted two
quite different ways of blowing up the program. (The variables were
extern and defined in another file to ensure that the compiler
couldn't outsmart me with a compilation error.)

In the Python code, that would be unnecessary with the *list* type,
but it might be of value with your own class (eg subclass of list).
Although, I'd put that sort of thing into a dedicated unit testing
section, where everyone _knows_ that you're trying to break stuff.

Chris Angelico

Back to comp.lang.python | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Next in thread | Find similar | Unroll thread

Thread

The worth of comments Richard Parker <r.richardparker@comcast.net> - 2011-05-26 11:50 -0700
  Re: The worth of comments Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au> - 2011-05-27 11:42 +1000
    Re: The worth of comments Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2011-05-27 13:54 +0000
      Re: The worth of comments Irmen de Jong <irmen@-NOSPAM-xs4all.nl> - 2011-05-27 19:05 +0200
        Re: The worth of comments Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2011-05-27 17:53 +0000
          Re: The worth of comments Irmen de Jong <irmen.NOSPAM@xs4all.nl> - 2011-05-28 15:09 +0200
            Re: The worth of comments python@bdurham.com - 2011-05-28 09:34 -0400
          Re: The worth of comments Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2011-05-28 09:36 -0400
            Re: The worth of comments Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-05-29 00:02 +1000
            Re: The worth of comments Irmen de Jong <irmen.NOSPAM@xs4all.nl> - 2011-05-28 16:05 +0200
              Re: The worth of comments Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2011-05-29 12:47 +1200
                Re: The worth of comments Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au> - 2011-05-29 11:41 +1000
                Re: The worth of comments Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2011-05-29 23:05 +1200
                Re: The worth of comments Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2011-05-29 14:43 +0000
                Re: The worth of comments Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2011-05-29 11:39 -0400
                Re: The worth of comments Irmen de Jong <irmen.NOSPAM@xs4all.nl> - 2011-05-29 03:49 +0200
                Re: The worth of comments Alister Ware <alister.ware@ntlworld.com> - 2011-05-29 17:26 +0000
            Re: The worth of comments Neil Cerutti <neilc@norwich.edu> - 2011-05-31 14:47 +0000
  Re: The worth of comments Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2011-05-26 22:08 -0400
    Re: The worth of comments Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-05-27 15:13 +1000
      Re: The worth of comments Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2011-05-27 09:25 -0400
    Re: The worth of comments Tim Roberts <timr@probo.com> - 2011-05-27 00:02 -0700
      Re: The worth of comments "D'Arcy J.M. Cain" <darcy@druid.net> - 2011-05-27 09:29 -0400
    RE: The worth of comments "Prasad, Ramit" <ramit.prasad@jpmchase.com> - 2011-05-27 14:17 -0400

csiph-web