Tagged Questions
35
votes
8answers
5k views
How can I learn to effectively write Pythonic code?
Doing a google search for "pythonic" reveals a wide range of interpretations. The wikipedia page says:
A common neologism in the Python community is pythonic, which can have a wide range of ...
20
votes
2answers
11k views
What's wrong with relative imports in Python?
I recently upgraded versions of pylint, a popular Python style-checker.
It has gone ballistic throughout my code, pointing out places where I import modules in the same package, without specifying ...
14
votes
2answers
543 views
Creating nested functions for purely aesthetic reasons?
I've always wondered what other programmers think about the idea of creating pure aesthetic functions.
Say I have a function that processes a chunk of data: Function ProcessBigData. Say I need ...
8
votes
6answers
9k views
Single quotes vs double quotes [closed]
I just started a job where I'm writing Python after coming from a Java background, and I'm noticing that other developers tend to quote strings using single quotes ('') instead of double quotes (""). ...
7
votes
5answers
1k views
Which style to use for unused return parameters in a Python function call
Is there any recommended/generally accepted coding style for handling situations where a function returns a tuple of values but only one of those values is used afterwards (note that this is mostly ...
7
votes
1answer
374 views
Is using '{}' within format strings considered Pythonic?
I just learned you can write
'{}{}'.format(string_a, string_b)
instead of
'{0}{1}'.format(string_a, string_b)
in Python, i.e. you can omit the numerals for the string format parameters when you ...
5
votes
4answers
469 views
How can I stop myself overwriting member variables with 'new' ones?
The bulk of my programming experience has been with C++ and (shudder) FORTRAN (I'm a scientist not a programmer as such, but I do my best). I've recently started using python extensively and find it ...
5
votes
4answers
379 views
Communicate to a junior developer about bad style
I have a friend who's managed to pick up comma first (best case might be made here: http://ajaxian.com/archives/is-there-something-to-the-crazy-comma-first-style) but it's 100% against our org's style ...
5
votes
1answer
2k views
Pythonic use of the isinstance function?
Whenever I find myself wanting to use the isinstance() function I usually know that I'm doing something wrong and end up changing my ways. However, in this case I think I have a valid use for it. I ...
5
votes
3answers
293 views
Should I return iterators or more sophisticated objects?
Say I have a function that creates a list of objects. If I want to return an iterator, I'll have to return iter(a_list). Should I do this, or just return the list as it is? My motivation for returning ...
4
votes
3answers
448 views
Space between negative sign and variable name
I tried doing a Google search, as well as searching this Stack Exchange site but could not find a question relating directly to this.
The PEP 8 -- Style Guide for Python Code has lots of good style ...
4
votes
2answers
211 views
Using a closure to avoid code duplication in Python
Sometimes I find myself wanting to run the same code from a few different spots in the same function. Say I have some function func1, and I want to do the same thing from a few different spots in ...
3
votes
2answers
248 views
How can I keep current with Python coding style?
I've been using Python since version 2.2. I do pick up new language constructs like for example with statement or dictionary/set comprehensions. However, I've realized that even though I'm being ...
2
votes
1answer
924 views
call sub function based on variable value
I have a function containing other functions. These function are called based on value of variable action.
These sub functions are logically grouped - i.e., they all deal with file manipulation.
...
0
votes
1answer
234 views
How to format this line according to PEP 8? [closed]
I'm trying to adhere to PEP 8, with a 78 character limit on the length of my lines.
I have the following statement:
startTime = time.strptime(request.GET.get('st', (dt.datetime.now() - ...
0
votes
0answers
58 views
Check some value between each function call
Can you recommend a nice way of checking a particular value between calls to a set of functions?
E.g. something like this in Python (might not be terribly 'Pythonic'):
self.error_code = 0 # this ...
