I don't think a python-dev discussion about the value of doctests is going to change minds one way or the other, but I just *had* to respond to this one point:
On May 20, 2013, at 11:26 PM, Michael Foord wrote: >* Doctests practically beg you to write your code first and then copy and >* paste terminal sessions - they're the enemy of TDD In a sense, they're your best friend too. Countless times, when I'm designing an API, writing the documentation first helps clarify how I want the library to work, or where I need to think about the API more deeply. In much the same way that TDD is ideal when you know what you're aiming for, when you *don't* exactly know, it's a huge benefit to write the documentation first. Doing so will bring into stark contrast what needs improvement in your API. The fact that you can then test much of this documentation as you go, brings the win of TDD to your documentation. -Barry _______________________________________________ Python-Dev mailing list Python-Dev@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev Unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com
