Latex: ZeroDivisionError

[dahoo]

Latex compilation writes several times to the PDF file, which causes an watchdog update each time. The result is a ZeroDivisionError with an empty document:

2015-06-11 12:17:06 -   Calculating average word length ...
Exception in thread Thread-1:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/threading.py", line 810, in __bootstrap_inner
    self.run()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/watchdog/observers/api.py", line 199, in run
    self.dispatch_events(self.event_queue, self.timeout)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/watchdog/observers/api.py", line 368, in dispatch_events
    handler.dispatch(event)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/watchdog/events.py", line 330, in dispatch
    _method_map[event_type](event)
  File "tracker.py", line 58, in on_modified
    self.analyze_file_event(event)
  File "tracker.py", line 67, in analyze_file_event
    self.analyze_paper()
  File "tracker.py", line 71, in analyze_paper
    self.calculate_statistics()
  File "tracker.py", line 220, in calculate_statistics
    avg_len = float(self.total_word_len) / float(self.num_words)
ZeroDivisionError: float division by zero

I see 3 possible solutions:

• Delay parsing of file for some seconds
• Group changes, i.e. changes in a certain window, say 30 seconds, are considered as one change
• Abort parsing of file if the number of words is 0 but was more before

[Kadrian]

I think number 3 will be the best solution if we can catch this by checking number of words != 0. Go ahead and create a pull-request if you can test this and eliminate this error. I won't be able to test it with my Latex compiler (Texpax).

[dahoo]

Well, I found out that one compilation results in ~20 changes... I solved it waiting for 10 seconds after the first change and omitting all changes in the following 20 seconds. I'll file a pull request later.

[Kadrian]

I don't think that limiting us to one possible save every 20 seconds is a good choice. What about option 3?