[racket-dev] [racket] Disable/Enable Tests

At Mon, 28 Nov 2011 11:54:06 -0500,
Matthias Felleisen wrote:
> I propose 
> 
> 1. to remove the menu and its functionality 
> 2. to add a macro disable-tests-below 
> 3. and be prepared to add a macro enable-tests-below. 

`disable-tests-below' makes it easy to accidentally skip running tests
altogether.

Consider this scenario:
- A student works on an assignment, one problem at a time.
- Once a problem is done, he doesn't touch the code anymore, and
  wants to disable the tests.
- With `disable-tests-below', he needs to add it at the top of the
  file, and to add `enable-tests-below' before the problem he's now
  working on.
- If he forgets to add `enable-tests-below', no tests get run at all.

`disable-tests-above' would accomodate this workflow better. If the
student forgets to move it as he solves problems, then more tests get
run. No problem. That sounds like a better default to me.

However, I'm a bit uncomfortable with `disable-tests-above' affecting
the behavior of what comes before it. It may lead to confusing
situations.

A region-based solution also sounds good. Especially since (I assume)
only a small number of tests are actually expensive.

Vincent