> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://primer.ought.org/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://primer.ought.org/chapters/debate/representing-debates.md).

# Representing debates

We’ll represent debates as lists of turns. Each turn has the name of an agent and a message from that agent. For example, including some types:

{% code title="debate/types.py" %}

```python
Name = str
Message = str
Turn = tuple[Name, Message]
Debate = list[Turn]

my_debate: Debate = [
    ("Alice", "I think we should legalize all drugs."),
    ("Bob", "I'm against."),
    ("Alice", "The war on drugs has been a failure. It's time to try something new."),
]
```

{% endcode %}

Here’s how we’ll initialize and render debates:

{% code title="debate/utils.py" %}

```python
from typing import Optional

from fvalues import F

from ice.recipes.primer.debate.types import *


def initialize_debate(question: Message) -> Debate:
    return [
        ("Question", question),
        ("Alice", "I'm in favor."),
        ("Bob", "I'm against."),
    ]


def render_debate(debate: Debate, self_name: Optional[Name] = None) -> str:
    debate_text = ""
    for speaker, text in debate:
        if speaker == self_name:
            speaker = "You"
        debate_text += F(f'{speaker}: "{text}"\n')
    return debate_text.strip()
```

{% endcode %}

When we render debates, we also provide the option to replace an agent name with “You”, like this:

```python
>>> print(render_debate(my_debate, self_name="Alice"))
```

```
You: "I think we should legalize all drugs."
Bob: "I'm against."
You: "The war on drugs has been a failure. It's time to try something new."
```

This will help us with prompts!


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