From: David Garamond <davegaramond@...>
Date: 2002-08-24T16:14:14+09:00
Subject: Re: equivalent of python's __debug__

Shirai,Kaoru wrote:
>>if __debug__:
>>     print "there are %d eggs in the basket now." % (eggs)
>>will be optimized away.
>>is there similar thing in ruby? or do i have to use a preprocessor?
> 
>  Interpreter switch '-d' and $DEBUG may help you. This may be good for
> tiny script, but running large application with -d switch is often so
> verbose. I recommands you to use some logger library.

sorry for the late response. my problem is, i want to insert lots of 
string literals (sort of embedded documentation, but will be read by 
other scripts) which i don't want to include in the optimized version. 
in python, if i do this:

def foo(self, x, y):
     if __debug__:
         self.__doc__x = "...some longish string..."
         self.__doc__y = "...some also longish string..."
         self.__doc_spec1__ = "...yet another string..."
         ...
     ...

then the debug portion along with the literals will be removed so they 
don't take up memory. i don't seem to be able to do this with ruby, 
except by using a preprocessor.

-- 
dave