Python How To’s
A collection of small, useful, how to’s for Python.
Resetting the Recursion Limit
What Is The Recursion Limit? A recursive function is one that calls itself, looping through data to generate a result. However, in Python, there is a limit to the number of times a function can call itself. The limit is set to the maximum depth of Python’s interpreter stack. Python’s default recursion limit is 1000, […]
Read MoreSwapping Values in Python
Swapping the values of two variables in Python is actually a really simple task. Python makes it fairly easy to swap two values without a lot of bulky code or weird hacks. Check out how easy it is to swap two numbers with each other using the built in methods below: x, y = 33, […]
Read MoreHow to Check for Anagrams In Python
In Python, there’s a fairly straightforward way to create a method that can be used to check strings against each other to see if the two strings are anagrams. Check out the function below to see the method in action — essentially it works by using the “==” comparison operator to see if the strings on […]
Read MoreUsing Break and Continue Statements in Python
In Python, break statements are used to exit (or “break) a conditional loop that uses “for” or “while”. After the loop ends, the code will pick up from the line immediately following the break statement. Here’s an example: even_nums = (2, 4, 6) num_sum = 0 count = 0 for x in even_nums: num_sum = […]
Read MoreQuick Tip: Using Sets in Python
In Python, sets are lists that don’t contain any duplicate entries. Using the set type is a quick and easy way to make sure that a list doesn’t contain any duplicates. Here’s an example of how you would use it to check a list for duplicates: a = set([“Pizza”, “Ice Cream”, “Donuts”, “Pizza”]) print a […]
Read MorePython’s SQLAlchemy vs Other ORMs
Overview of Python ORMs As a wonderful language, Python has lots of ORM libraries besides SQLAlchemy. In this article, we are going to take a look at several popular alternative ORM libraries to better understand the big picture of the Python ORM landscape. By writing a script that reads and writes to a simple database […]
Read MorePython’s Django vs Ruby on Rails
Python vs Ruby Ruby is a dynamic, reflective, object-oriented general-purpose programming language which was designed and developed in the mid-1990s. Compared to Python, which treats code readability above everything else, the philosophy behind Ruby is that programmers should have the flexibility, freedom and power to write concise and compact code. The most important difference between […]
Read MoreHow to Install Django on Windows, Mac and Linux
In this article, we are going to learn how to install Django on Windows, Mac and Linux. Since Mac and Linux are both derived from the Unix platform, the instructions about installing Django on Mac and Linux are almost identical to each other and we will present them in the same section. Windows, however, is […]
Read MoreHow to Install SQLAlchemy
In the previous article of the series Introductory Tutorial to Python’s SQLAlchemy, we learned how to write database code using SQLAlchemy’s declaratives. In this article, we are going to learn how to install SQLAlchemy on Linux, Mac OS X and Windows. Installing SQLAlchemy on Windows Before installing SQLAlchemy on Windows, you need to install Python […]
Read MoreTime a Python Function
In one of the previous articles (Measure Time in Python – time.time() vs time.clock()), we learned how to use the module timeit to benchmark a program. Since the program we timed in that article includes only raw statements instead of functions, we’re going to explore how to actually time a function in Python. Time a […]
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