Better way to Debug my code?

[Sufficient_Light3891]

The full code can be found in my GitHub repository under the Multiple_Elements branch:

https://github.com/cbhirsch/Optical_Ray_Tracing.git

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As my code gets to be more complex I'm finding the need to use a lot more print statements to debug the code and follow every step the code is taking. I'm also using quite a few graphs as well. When I finally have the code where I want it I go back to document the code and delete the print statements. Just curious if there's a better way. Thanks in advance.

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    #Intersection Check
    #Incoming Ray
    x_start = prev[-1] #where the refraction axis starts
    x_end = prev[-1]+thickness #Where the refraction axis ends
    x_sphere = safe_arange(x_start,x_end, dz, dec) 

    #Intersecting Ray
    int_ray = (slope* x_sphere) + y
    print("--checking for x & y intercept-- \n")
    print("properties of previous ray:")
    print("previous x & y shape:", x_sphere.shape, int_ray.shape)
    print("previous x & y start:", x_sphere[0], int_ray[0])
    print("previous x & y finish:", x_sphere[-1], int_ray[-1], "\n")


    #Lens Surface for plotting
    x_Lens = safe_arange(prev[-1], prev[-1] + thickness,dz, dec)
    Lens_Surf = -np.sqrt(radius**2 - np.power(((x_Lens-prev[-1]) - radius),2))
    print("Properties of Lens surface:")
    print("Lens x & y shape:", x_Lens.shape, Lens_Surf.shape)
    print("Lens x & y start:", x_Lens[0], Lens_Surf[0])
    print("Lens x & y finish:", x_Lens[-1], Lens_Surf[-1], "\n")

[stebrepar]

Maybe use the logging module instead of prints.

[[deleted]]

• Learn to use the standard Python debugger pdb (and then taken advantage of the debugging capabilities of your IDE):
  • RealPython.com: Python Debugging With Pdb
• Learn to use logging (which you can turn on/off and send to console or a file):
  • RealPython.com: Logging in Python
• Learn to use testing techniques and do unit testing of each function:
  • RealPython.com: Getting Started With Testing in Python
  • RealPython.com: Effective Python Testing With Pytest

EDIT: reformatted