Python vs C for a mail server

[Peter Hansen]

Jens Theisen wrote:
> Test failures, however, don't tell you anything about the current usage of  
> your program - just about the inteded usage at the point where the test  
> was writte. Clearly you can't test _anything_? And clearly you can never  
> be sure that all you collegues did so as well? This not only about type  
> safety, but simply name safety.
> 
> What do you do when you want to no if a certain method or function is  
> actually used from somewhere, say "foobar", it a language which allows  
> (and even encourages) that it could be called by:
> 
> getattr(obj, "foo" + "bar")()
> ?
> 
> There is no systematic way to find this call.

While this isn't really a "test", as you are really asking about 
something to do with managing your code base, it is quite possible to 
write a test which *does* check whether foobar() is called, and even to 
pinpoint all places from which it is called, if that's really what you 
want to do.  Believing you can't do that suggests you have no real 
experience with writing tests for code, so it might be best not to argue 
so strenuously against them.

-Peter