"static" checking

[Moosebumps]

I'm wondering what kind of checking I can do on a python program before
running it (besides reading over every line).  I hate running a long python
script, only to have it fail at the end because I misspelled a function
name, or made some other silly mistake that a compiler would normally catch.
Then I have to run it all over again to see what happened or come up with
some sort of short test.

I usually do try to isolate the new parts of my code, and run them first
with some dummy data that will run fast.  But that is not always possible
because of dependencies, and it would be nice to have some sort of sanity
check up front.

I noticed there is a "check" function in IDLE, and I've tried running it but
it never does anything.  Maybe it is not catching the kinds of errors that
are biting me.

thanks,
MB