[wp-hackers] Plugin and theme developer plugins

[Jeremy Clarke]

On Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 3:28 PM, Rich Pedley <elfin at elfden.co.uk> wrote:

> On 13/09/2010 19:52, Andrew Nacin wrote:
>
>> [0] As long as "WP_DEBUG" is in size 40 font on that page, preferably red
>> and blinking.
>>
>
> you forgot  - and scrolling.
>
> Though having that turned on all the time can be a pain when you have to
> use someone else's plugin... and end up ditching it because of the errors.
>
>
Email them the changes to fix it! It's usually just one or two lines that
clearly won't break anything ($yourvar = ''; being the most commonly needed
fix). Unless the the plugin is derelict they will update it so you don't
have to constantly re-patch the plugin when you update it. If they don't
care enough to incorporate your patch into the next version you should
probably find a new plugin ;)

I recently started working with WP_DEBUG on again after a hiatus where I
turned it off for various reasons. I love it and wish I had never turned it
off. I've found so many little bugs in my code that just sat there while
WP_DEBUG was off. It's incredibly useful and once you learn to navigate the
choppy waters of PHP undefined variable notices it will help you write much
better code by forcing you to think about why you are seeing the notices.

-- 
Jeremy Clarke | http://jeremyclarke.org
Code and Design | http://globalvoicesonline.org