pydebug 1.0.3
Tiny python debugging utility modeled after visionmedia's node.js debug module
License: MIT

pydebug
=======

Tiny python debugging utility modeled after visionmedia's node.js debug
module and the python 3 print function

Installation
------------

::

    $ python setup.py install

Usage
-----

With ``debug`` you simply invoke the exported function to generate your
debug function, passing it a name which will determine if a noop
function is returned, or custom decorated function that emulates the
python 3 ``print`` function but, by default, prints to ``sys.stderr``. A
unique color is selected per-function for visibility.

Example *test.py*:

.. code:: py

    import pydebug
    import time

    # 
    # pydebug.debug(name)
    #
    # once you have initialized the debug module you can call it as shown below
    #
    # debug(*objects, sep=' ', end='\n', file=sys.stderr, flush=False)
    #

    debug = pydebug.debug("test")
    debug("hi there2")

    debug2 = pydebug.debug("test2")
    debug2("awesome")

    debug({"awesome": True}, True, 1, "test")
    debug([], {1,2,3}, {"awesome": True}, True, 1, "test")

    time.sleep(0.1)
    debug('should be milliseconds now')

    time.sleep(1)
    debug('should be seconds now')

The **DEBUG** environment variable is then used to enable these based on
space or comma-delimited names. Here are some examples:

::

    $ DEBUG=* python test_pydebug.py
    $ DEBUG=test python test_pydebug.py
    $ DEBUG=test2 python test_pydebug.py
    $ DEBUG=test* python test_pydebug.py

Microsecond diff
----------------

When actively developing an application it can be useful to see when the
time spent between one ``debug()`` call and the next. Suppose for
example you invoke ``debug()`` before requesting a resource, and after
as well, the "+NNNus" will show you how much time was spent between
calls.

When File is not a TTY
----------------------

When the file is not a TTY, ``to_utc_string()`` is called which mimicks
the default behavior of the Javascript ``Date#toUTCString()`` method
used in the node.js debug module, making it more useful for logging the
debug information as shown below

::

    $ DEBUG=* python test_pydebug.py 2>&1 | grep test
    $ DEBUG=* python test_pydebug.py 2>&1 | grep test2

Conventions
-----------

If you're using this in one or more of your libraries, you *should* use
the name of your library so that developers may toggle debugging as
desired without guessing names. If you have more than one debuggers you
*should* prefix them with your library name and use ":" to separate
features. For example "bodyParser" from Connect would then be
"connect:bodyParser".

Wildcards
---------

The "\*" character may be used as a wildcard. Suppose for example your
library has debuggers named "connect:bodyParser", "connect:compress",
"connect:session", instead of listing all three with
``DEBUG=connect:bodyParser,connect.compress,connect:session``, you may
simply do ``DEBUG=connect:*``, or to run everything using this module
simply use ``DEBUG=*``.

You can also exclude specific debuggers by prefixing them with a "-"
character or whitespace. For example:

::

    $ DEBUG=test2,-test python test_pydebug.py
    $ DEBUG="test2 -test" python test_pydebug.py

License
-------

The MIT License (MIT)

Copyright (c) 2013 Malcom Gilbert

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
"Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included
in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS
OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.
IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY
CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.