## 5.2.7 Warnings

1. `doctest` is serious about requiring exact matches in expected output. If even a single character doesn't match, the test fails. This will probably surprise you a few times, as you learn exactly what Python does and doesn't guarantee about output. For example, when printing a dict, Python doesn't guarantee that the key-value pairs will be printed in any particular order, so a test like

         >>> foo()
         {"Hermione": "hippogryph", "Harry": "broomstick"}
         >>>

   is vulnerable! One workaround is to do

         >>> foo() == {"Hermione": "hippogryph", "Harry": "broomstick"}
         1
         >>>

   instead. Another is to do

         >>> d = foo().items()
         >>> d.sort()
         >>> d
         [('Harry', 'broomstick'), ('Hermione', 'hippogryph')]

   There are others, but you get the idea.

   Another bad idea is to print things that embed an object address, like

         >>> id(1.0) # certain to fail some of the time
         7948648
         >>>

   Floating-point numbers are also subject to small output variations across platforms, because Python defers to the platform C library for float formatting, and C libraries vary widely in quality here.

         >>> 1./7  # risky
         0.14285714285714285
         >>> print 1./7 # safer
         0.142857142857
         >>> print round(1./7, 6) # much safer
         0.142857

   Numbers of the form `I/2.**J` are safe across all platforms, and I often contrive doctest examples to produce numbers of that form:

         >>> 3./4  # utterly safe
         0.75

   Simple fractions are also easier for people to understand, and that makes for better documentation.

2. Be careful if you have code that must only execute once.

   If you have module-level code that must only execute once, a more foolproof definition of `_test()` is

         def _test():
             import doctest, sys
             doctest.testmod(sys.modules["__main__"])