DEV Community: Yusuke Minami

An alternative way to debug your Python code

Yusuke Minami — Sat, 13 Jan 2024 14:39:53 +0000

Rich Exception

Python developers use print(variable_foobar) or debugging feature of IDE such as VS Code to troubleshoot, but aren't there any quicker alternative ways?

rich package can make the exception traceback nicer; show the local variable values and extra lines of code.

How to use

Install rich

pip install -U rich

Place the following code in the beginning of your main module.

try:
    from rich.traceback import install

    install(
        console=None,
        width=200,
        extra_lines=3,
        theme=None,
        word_wrap=True,
        show_locals=True,
        locals_max_length=10,
        locals_max_string=80,
        locals_hide_dunder=True,
        locals_hide_sunder=None,
        indent_guides=True,
        suppress=(),
        max_frames=20,
    )
except Exception:
    print("Failed to set up rich traceback. Try: pip install -U rich")

Alternatively, to apply to all the codes you run, you may place the Python code in sitecustomize.py file in site-packages directory which can be found by running:

python -c "import sys;print(sys.path)"

References

Regarding the options, see the documents:

https://rich.readthedocs.io/en/stable/traceback.html#traceback-handler
https://rich.readthedocs.io/en/stable/reference/traceback.html#rich.traceback.install

Tools I use

Yusuke Minami — Sat, 13 Jan 2024 01:35:41 +0000

Wezterm (Terminal)
https://wezfurlong.org/wezterm/
https://dev.to/minyus/tired-of-copying-text-in-terminal-1anj

Xonsh (Shell)
https://xon.sh/

Git
https://git-scm.com/

gitui (CLI)
https://github.com/extrawurst/gitui

VS Code (IDE)
https://code.visualstudio.com/

GitLens (VS Code Extension)
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=eamodio.gitlens

Python

Black formatter (VS Code Extension)
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-python.black-formatter

Ruff (VS Code Extension)
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=charliermarsh.ruff

Rich exception traceback
https://github.com/Textualize/rich
https://dev.to/minyus/an-alternative-way-to-debug-your-python-code-115b

Phind
https://www.phind.com/

Raycast
https://www.raycast.com/

Obsidian
https://obsidian.md/

Mac only: Karabiner-Elements
https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org/

Windows only: sharpkeys
https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/XPFFCG7M673D4F?hl=en-US&gl=US

Tired of copying text in terminal?

Yusuke Minami — Sun, 07 Jan 2024 12:10:26 +0000

Paint point

As an engineer, it has been my pain point to copy text in terminal.
The situation occurs frequently while navigating files in remote data storage such as S3 and HDFS which does not support cd .

Solution

A solution I found is quick select feature of Wezterm, which assigns keyboard shortcut (1-2 characters) to copy quickly in the terminal.

In default, however, the selection does not work as expected.

Here is my config.

Ctrl + Shift + y >> copy a text separated by whitespace characters
Ctrl + Shift + l >> copy a line (useful to copy and paste error message into Google search or LLM)
Ctrl + Shift + p >> copy a text separated by whitespace/slash/quotation/bracket characters (useful to copy only file names, values in JSON, etc.)

How to set up

Install Wezterm following https://wezfurlong.org/wezterm/installation.html
Create ~/.wezterm.lua file including the following content:

-- Pull in the wezterm API
local wezterm = require 'wezterm'

-- This table will hold the configuration.
local config = {}

-- In newer versions of wezterm, use the config_builder which will
-- help provide clearer error messages
if wezterm.config_builder then
    config = wezterm.config_builder()
end

-- This is where you actually apply your config choices


config.quick_select_patterns = {
    -- match things that look like sha1 hashes
    -- (this is actually one of the default patterns)
    '\\S{6,}',
}

config.keys = {
    {
        key = 'Y',
        mods = 'CTRL',
        action = wezterm.action.QuickSelectArgs {
            patterns = {
                '\\S{6,}',
            },
            scope_lines = 0,
            label = 'copy a text separated by whitespace characters',
        },
    },
    {
        key = 'L',
        mods = 'CTRL',
        action = wezterm.action.QuickSelectArgs {
            patterns = {
                '.{6,}',
            },
            scope_lines = 0,
            label = 'copy a line',
        },
    },
    {
        key = 'P',
        mods = 'CTRL',
        action = wezterm.action.QuickSelectArgs {
            patterns = {
                '[^\\s\\/\'\"\\<\\>\\{\\}\\(\\)\\[\\]]{6,}',
            },
            scope_lines = 0,
            label = 'copy a text separated by whitespace/slash/quotation/bracket characters',
        },
    },
}

config.disable_default_quick_select_patterns = true

config.colors = {
    quick_select_label_fg = { Color = '#ff0000' },
    quick_select_match_fg = { Color = '#aaaaaa' },
    scrollbar_thumb = '#aaaaaa',
}

config.enable_scroll_bar = true

-- and finally, return the configuration to wezterm
return config

Reference

https://github.com/wez/wezterm/issues/4219#issuecomment-1697977950