Python Patterns

Avoid magic; be clear about what your code does.

# Good: Explicit configuration
import logging

logging.basicConfig(
    level=logging.INFO,
    format='%(asctime)s - %(name)s - %(levelname)s - %(message)s'
)

# Bad: Hidden side effects
import some_module
some_module.setup()  # What does this do?

3. EAFP - Easier to Ask Forgiveness Than Permission

Python prefers exception handling over checking conditions.

# Good: EAFP style
def get_value(dictionary: dict, key: str) -> Any:
    try:
        return dictionary[key]
    except KeyError:
        return default_value

# Bad: LBYL (Look Before You Leap) style
def get_value(dictionary: dict, key: str) -> Any:
    if key in dictionary:
        return dictionary[key]
    else:
        return default_value

Type Hints

Basic Type Annotations

from typing import Optional, List, Dict, Any

def process_user(
    user_id: str,
    data: Dict[str, Any],
    active: bool = True
) -> Optional[User]:
    """Process a user and return the updated User or None."""
    if not active:
        return None
    return User(user_id, data)

Modern Type Hints (Python 3.9+)

# Python 3.9+ - Use built-in types
def process_items(items: list[str]) -> dict[str, int]:
    return {item: len(item) for item in items}

Protocol-Based Duck Typing

from typing import Protocol

class Renderable(Protocol):
    def render(self) -> str:
        """Render the object to a string."""

def render_all(items: list[Renderable]) -> str:
    """Render all items that implement the Renderable protocol."""
    return "\n".join(item.render() for item in items)

Error Handling Patterns

Specific Exception Handling

# Good: Catch specific exceptions
def load_config(path: str) -> Config:
    try:
        with open(path) as f:
            return Config.from_json(f.read())
    except FileNotFoundError as e:
        raise ConfigError(f"Config file not found: {path}") from e
    except json.JSONDecodeError as e:
        raise ConfigError(f"Invalid JSON in config: {path}") from e

# Bad: Bare except
def load_config(path: str) -> Config:
    try:
        with open(path) as f:
            return Config.from_json(f.read())
    except:
        return None  # Silent failure!

Custom Exception Hierarchy

class AppError(Exception):
    """Base exception for all application errors."""
    pass

class ValidationError(AppError):
    """Raised when input validation fails."""
    pass

class NotFoundError(AppError):
    """Raised when a requested resource is not found."""
    pass

Context Managers

from contextlib import contextmanager

@contextmanager
def timer(name: str):
    """Context manager to time a block of code."""
    start = time.perf_counter()
    yield
    elapsed = time.perf_counter() - start
    print(f"{name} took {elapsed:.4f} seconds")

# Usage
with timer("data processing"):
    process_large_dataset()

Comprehensions and Generators

# Good: List comprehension for simple transformations
names = [user.name for user in users if user.is_active]

# Good: Generator for lazy evaluation
total = sum(x * x for x in range(1_000_000))

# Generator function for large files
def read_large_file(path: str) -> Iterator[str]:
    with open(path) as f:
        for line in f:
            yield line.strip()

Data Classes

from dataclasses import dataclass, field
from datetime import datetime

@dataclass
class User:
    id: str
    name: str
    email: str
    created_at: datetime = field(default_factory=datetime.now)
    is_active: bool = True

    def __post_init__(self):
        if "@" not in self.email:
            raise ValueError(f"Invalid email: {self.email}")

Concurrency Patterns

import concurrent.futures

# Threading for I/O-bound
def fetch_all_urls(urls: list[str]) -> dict[str, str]:
    with concurrent.futures.ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=10) as executor:
        future_to_url = {executor.submit(fetch_url, url): url for url in urls}
        results = {}
        for future in concurrent.futures.as_completed(future_to_url):
            url = future_to_url[future]
            try:
                results[url] = future.result()
            except Exception as e:
                results[url] = f"Error: {e}"
    return results

# Async/Await for concurrent I/O
async def fetch_all(urls: list[str]) -> dict[str, str]:
    tasks = [fetch_async(url) for url in urls]
    results = await asyncio.gather(*tasks, return_exceptions=True)
    return dict(zip(urls, results))

Package Organization

myproject/
├── src/
│   └── mypackage/
│       ├── __init__.py
│       ├── main.py
│       ├── api/
│       ├── models/
│       └── utils/
├── tests/
├── pyproject.toml
└── .gitignore

Anti-Patterns to Avoid

# Bad: Mutable default arguments
def append_to(item, items=[]):  # Use items=None instead

# Bad: Checking type with type()
if type(obj) == list:  # Use isinstance(obj, list)

# Bad: Comparing to None with ==
if value == None:  # Use value is None

# Bad: from module import *
from os.path import *  # Use explicit imports

# Bad: Bare except