Debugging Python with Print Statements: A Mini Guide

The Simple Print Statement:

Let's print a variable to inspect its value. This can be as straightforward as:

result = 5 * 5
print(result)  # Output: 25

Listing attributes and methods of a variable:

The dir() function is a powerful tool when examining an object, revealing associated attributes and methods. The power of dir() becomes evident when comparing its output to that of a simple print statement.

result = 10
print(result)  # Output: 10
print(dir(result))  # Output: ['__abs__', '__add__', '__and__', '__bool__', '__ceil__', '__class__', ..., '__xor__']

Here, print(result) only shows the value of the integer, while print(dir(result)) lists all applicable methods and attributes.

Outputing the key-value pairs:

The vars() function provides an in-depth look into an object's attributes and their corresponding values, unlike a simple print statement which only displays the object.

class Test:
    def __init__(self, value):
        self.value = value

result = Test(10)
# Not so readable
print(result)  # Output: <__main__.Test object at 0x7f9abc7def10>
# Easier to get a picture of the values
print(vars(result))  # Output: {'value': 10}

In this case, print(result) only shows the memory location, while print(vars(result)) reveals the actual content of the object.

Copy-pasting values for Python Unit Testing

repr() returns a string that represents a printable version of an object, which can be particularly useful for complex data structures like nested dictionaries or custom objects.

Consider a function that returns a nested dictionary:

def create_nested_dict():
    return {
        "key1": {
            "nested_key1": True,
            "nested_key2": [1, 2, 3],
            "nested_key3": None,
            "nested_key4": {
                "double_nested_key1": "Hello, World!"
            }
        },
        "key2": 42
    }

To get a string representation of the result that can be used directly in a unit test, we can use repr():

result = create_nested_dict()
print(repr(result))

This will output:

{'key1': {'nested_key1': True, 'nested_key2': [1, 2, 3], 'nested_key3': None, 'nested_key4': {'double_nested_key1': 'Hello, World!'}}, 'key2': 42}

Now, we can use this exact output as the expected result in our unit test:

import unittest

class TestCreateNestedDictFunction(unittest.TestCase):
    def test_create_nested_dict(self):
        expected = {'key1': {'nested_key1': True, 'nested_key2': [1, 2, 3], 'nested_key3': None, 'nested_key4': {'double_nested_key1': 'Hello, World!'}}, 'key2': 42}
        self.assertEqual(create_nested_dict(), expected)

The repr() function provides a convenient way to generate string representations of complex data structures, which can be directly used in unit tests as expected results. This can significantly simplify the process of writing unit tests, especially for functions that return complex data structures.

Happy Coding!