Because the problem that gave rise to this question is insignificant.
I would want to know the answer in any case. *Can* it be done in
Python at all?
No.
OK, if you must know:
With Perl one can set a module-global variable before the module
is loaded. This provides a very handy backdoor during testing.
E.g.
# in t/some_test.t script
...
BEGIN { $My::Module::TESTING = 1; }
use My::Module;
...
and in My/Module.pm:
package My::Module;
our $TESTING ||= 0; # set to 0 unless already initialized to !0
...
if ($TESTING) {
# throw testing switches
}
This does not work in Python, because setting my.module.TESTING
variable can happen only after my.module has been imported, but by
this point, the module's top-level code has already been executed,
so setting my.module.TESTING would have no effect. But one way to
get a similar effect would be to have my.module set its TESTING
(or whatever) variable equal to the value of this variable in the
*importing* module.
I don't understand enough (actually nothing) from perl, but I *am* a
heavily test-driven developer in Python. And never felt that need.
Sure, sometimes one wants to change behavior of a module under test,
e.g. replacing something with a stub or some such.
But where is the problem doing
--- mytest.py ---
import moduletobetested as m
m.SOME_GLOBAL = "whatever"
m.do_something()
---
Diez
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