Is there a feature like C's #define in order to compile or not e.g. println

General Usage
1

Hi,

I would like to activate/deactivate integration of some println in my compiled code.
I guess I could set a debug constant and fill the code with:

const debug = 0

if debug == 1
    println("value = " * value)
end

I suppose that it won’t be compiled in (am I right ?).

But maybe there’s some Julia’s way to do that ?

1 Like
2

A better way to do this would be with a function, e.g.

debug() = false

function foo(value)
    if debug()
        println("value = ", value)
    end
end

then

julia> code_llvm(foo, Tuple{Int})
; Function Signature: foo(Int64)
;  @ REPL[26]:1 within `foo`
define void @julia_foo_18366(i64 signext %"value::Int64") #0 {
top:
  ret void
}

and if you change debug(), then any functions which depend on it will be automatically recompiled when they’re called again:

julia> debug() = true;

julia> code_llvm(foo, Tuple{Int})
; Function Signature: foo(Int64)
;  @ REPL[26]:1 within `foo`
define void @julia_foo_18399(i64 signext %"value::Int64") #0 {
top:
;  @ REPL[26]:3 within `foo`
  call void @j_println_18402(ptr nonnull @"jl_global#18403.jit", i64 signext %"value::Int64")
  ret void
}
1 Like
3

If you are interested in debug logs (i.e., it’s not just a toy example that you used as a substitute for another, more complex problem), then there is a @debug macro that can be controlled by an environment variable: Logging · The Julia Language

Copy-pasting an example from the referenced documentation:

julia> foo() = @debug "foo"
foo (generic function with 1 method)

julia> foo()

julia> ENV["JULIA_DEBUG"] = Main
Main

julia> foo()
┌ Debug: foo
└ @ Main REPL[1]:1
4

The closest analogue of C’s #ifdef in Julia is probably @static if. But you rarely need this — usually relying on the compiler for constant propagation suffices, and there are other ways to enable debugging logs as noted above.

1 Like
5

Note that this doesn’t do what the OP wanted though. The @debug code is still in the compiled function whether or now you have ENV["JULIA_DEBUG"] = Main, it’s just not displaying.