Differences from dpm and dsm for devel module for debugging objects?

Question

What are the differences of dpm and dsm for the devel module? I mainly use dsm for the devel module. What are some other common debugging functions that are useful in the devel module?

Answer 1

From the documentation:

Legacy function that was poorly named.

Use dpm() instead, since the 'p' maps to 'print_r'.

Code

function dsm($input, $name = NULL) {
  return dpm($input, $name);
}

So there is no real difference, except the function you are using is left there for developers that failed to switch when it was renamed.

Answer 2

dpm() prints a variable to the ‘message’ area of the page using drupal_set_message(). The output and compact and less likely to break the layout of your page.

From the devel docs:

A note from the devel module: dsm() is a legacy function that was poorly named; use dpm() instead, since the 'p' maps to 'print_r'.

I think we should trust the devel folks on that one.