A Python library to make debugging with print statements simpler and more effective.

PyScribe.com for full documentation. (Work in progress)

Warning: This project is currently in a pre-release state. Open to contributions and collaborators.

Installation

To install pyscribe:

$ pip install pyscribe

It may be necessary to have root privileges, in which case:

$ sudo pip install pyscribe

To uninstall:

$ pip uninstall pyscribe

Usage

1. Include from pyscribe import pyscribe at the top of the files you are debugging.
2. Initialize a variable of your choice to pyscribe.Scriber() (E.g.: ps = pyscribe.Scriber())
3. Make API calls as needed. (E.g.: ps.p(x))
4. Run one of the following commands

   $ pyscribe myfile.py

   This is the equivalent of running $ python myfile.py with all calls desugared.

$ pyscribe myfile.py --extraargs "-u asdf"

This is the equivalent of running $ python myfile.py -u asdf with all calls desugared.

$ pyscribe myfile.py --desugared

This does not run anything, but rather outputs a myfile_desugared.py, which is intended to be run to debug.

Argument Options

• --extraargs -- Arguments intended to be passed to Python file when run. Must be called with --run set
• --clean -- Produce a clean version of the file with all references to PyScribe removed
• --desugared -- Produce a desugared version of the file with all API calls replaced with valid Python.
• --log -- Save logs to a pyscribe_log.txt file along with timestamp.
• --nolines -- Don't show line numbers.

API Calls

• pyscribe.Scriber(labels=[]) -- Initialize PyScribe. If you're scribing values with labels, you can filter by labels by passing in a list of the labels as strings.
• pyscribe.p(object, label=None) -- Print the object value with relevant info dependent on type
• pyscribe.iterscribe(object) -- Log the object value from inside a for or while loop which prints current iteration
• pyscribe.watch(object) -- Log the object whenever its value changes
• pyscribe.d(object, unit="*") -- Distinguish the log with a clear separator defined by the unit

Planned

• pyscribe.values(object) -- Log the internal values of lists and dictionaries in a pretty way
• pyscribe.props(object) -- Log the fields of an object and their values
• Add configurations for the logging messages. e.g. Line 9: x is 4 instead of From line 9: x is the int 4.
• pyscribe make -- Command line instruction to search python files in current directory, desugar all files using pyscribe, replace files with desugared version, store old version in temporary directory.
• pyscribe debug -- Command line instruction to find any desugared pyscribe files, replace them with counterparts in temporary directory.
• pyscribe clean -- Command line instruction to find python files using pyscribe and replace them with a clean version. Erase debug versions unless told otherwise. --save-debug or something.

Tests

Test modules are in the tests directory. Specific test cases are in these modules in the form of testcase.py, and the test runner compares these with testcase_correct. Run the tests with ./run_tests.

Example

test.py:

from pyscribe import pyscribe

def main():
    ps = pyscribe.Scriber()

    x = 5
    ps.p(x)

    bar = "foo"
    for i in xrange(5):
        bar += str(i)
        ps.iterscribe(bar)

    y = "hello"
    ps.p(y)
    ps.watch(y)

    y = "world"

    foo = 1234
    ps.d(foo)
    ps.d(foo, unit="^")

    synonyms = {"clerk": "secretary", "student": "apprentice", "ground": "floor"}
    ps.p(synonyms)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

pyscribe_logs.txt:

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Log saved at 2014-12-31 22:03:48
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

From line 9: x is the int 5
----------------------------------------
bar is the str foo at beginning of for loop at line 12
From line 14: In iteration 0, bar changed to foo0
From line 14: In iteration 1, bar changed to foo01
From line 14: In iteration 2, bar changed to foo012
From line 14: In iteration 3, bar changed to foo0123
From line 14: In iteration 4, bar changed to foo01234
From line 17: y is the str hello
From line 18: Watching variable y, currently str hello
From line 20: y changed to world
From line 23: 
----------------------------------------
foo is the int 1234
----------------------------------------

From line 24: 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
foo is the int 1234
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

From line 27: synonyms is the dict {'clerk': 'secretary', 'student': 'apprentice', 'ground': 'floor'}

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
End of log
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

This log comes from running the desugared version of test.py:

import re
import pprint
import datetime
# from pyscribe import pyscribe

def main():
    pyscribe_log = open('pyscribe_logs.txt', 'w')
    pyscribe_log.write('%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%\nLog saved at ' + str(datetime.datetime.now().strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')) + '\n%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%\n\n')

    x = 5
    pyscribe_log.write('From line 9: x is the ' + re.search(r'\'[a-zA-Z]*\'', str(type(x))).group()[1:-1] + ' ' + str(x)+ '\n')

    bar = "foo"
    NAICKSHMWL = -1
    pyscribe_log.write('----------------------------------------\n' + 'bar is the ' + re.search(r'\'[a-zA-Z]*\'', str(type(bar))).group()[1:-1] + ' ' + str(bar) + ' at beginning of for loop at line 12' + '\n')
    for i in xrange(5):
        bar += str(i)
        NAICKSHMWL += 1
        pyscribe_log.write('From line 14: In iteration ' + str(NAICKSHMWL) + ', bar changed to ' + str(bar) + '\n')

    y = "hello"
    pyscribe_log.write('From line 17: y is the ' + re.search(r'\'[a-zA-Z]*\'', str(type(y))).group()[1:-1] + ' ' + str(y)+ '\n')
    pyscribe_log.write('From line 18: Watching variable y, currently ' + re.search(r'\'[a-zA-Z]*\'', str(type(y))).group()[1:-1] + ' ' + str(y)+ '\n')

    y = "world"
    pyscribe_log.write('From line 20: y changed to ' + str(y)+ '\n')

    foo = 1234
    pyscribe_log.write('From line 23: \n----------------------------------------\nfoo is the ' + re.search(r'\'[a-zA-Z]*\'', str(type(foo))).group()[1:-1] + ' ' + str(foo) + '\n----------------------------------------\n'+ '\n')
    pyscribe_log.write('From line 24: \n^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^\nfoo is the ' + re.search(r'\'[a-zA-Z]*\'', str(type(foo))).group()[1:-1] + ' ' + str(foo) + '\n^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^\n'+ '\n')

    synonyms = {"clerk": "secretary", "student": "apprentice", "ground": "floor"}
    pyscribe_log.write('From line 27: synonyms is the ' + re.search(r'\'[a-zA-Z]*\'', str(type(synonyms))).group()[1:-1] + ' ' + str(synonyms)+ '\n')

    pyscribe_log.write('\n%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%\nEnd of log\n%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%\n')
    pyscribe_log.close()
if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()