On Mon, Jul 2, 2012 at 4:54 AM, Jason Grout <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 6/30/12 11:57 PM, Simon King wrote:
>>
>> [X] Determine whether x is a string. If it is, then trace(x) traces
>> execution of code. If it isn't, try to return x.trace().

That's a clever compromise, but

> First, that is how it will work in the deprecation period.  Secondly, for
> the long term, my philosophical objection to that is that the "trace"
> top-level function is then being used in *completely* different ways
> depending on the input.  In one, it's a mathematical construct.  In the
> other, it has absolutely nothing to do with the mathematics or structure of
> the object, but instead is purely a low-level programming tool.

+1

> This isn't
> just philosophical, too.  It would be extremely confusing for a new user who
> accidentally passed in a string.  I think it's much better to throw an error
> (possibly mentioning trace_execution).  As Robert says, a person really
> wanting to trace the code probably will have no problem finding
> trace_execution (indeed, probably won't even use trace_execution, as they
> can use the preparser and pdb directly).
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jason
>
>
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