[Python-checkins] r76920 - python/trunk/Doc/faq/programming.rst
georg.brandl
python-checkins at python.org
Sun Dec 20 15:20:16 CET 2009
Author: georg.brandl
Date: Sun Dec 20 15:20:16 2009
New Revision: 76920
Log:
#7495: backport Programming FAQ review to trunk.
Modified:
python/trunk/Doc/faq/programming.rst
Modified: python/trunk/Doc/faq/programming.rst
==============================================================================
--- python/trunk/Doc/faq/programming.rst (original)
+++ python/trunk/Doc/faq/programming.rst Sun Dec 20 15:20:16 2009
@@ -176,31 +176,32 @@
it is much shorter and far faster to use ::
- L2 = list(L1[:3]) # "list" is redundant if L1 is a list.
+ L2 = list(L1[:3]) # "list" is redundant if L1 is a list.
Note that the functionally-oriented builtins such as :func:`map`, :func:`zip`,
and friends can be a convenient accelerator for loops that perform a single
task. For example to pair the elements of two lists together::
- >>> zip([1,2,3], [4,5,6])
+ >>> zip([1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6])
[(1, 4), (2, 5), (3, 6)]
or to compute a number of sines::
- >>> map( math.sin, (1,2,3,4))
- [0.841470984808, 0.909297426826, 0.14112000806, -0.756802495308]
+ >>> map(math.sin, (1, 2, 3, 4))
+ [0.841470984808, 0.909297426826, 0.14112000806, -0.756802495308]
The operation completes very quickly in such cases.
-Other examples include the ``join()`` and ``split()`` methods of string objects.
+Other examples include the ``join()`` and ``split()`` :ref:`methods
+of string objects <string-methods>`.
For example if s1..s7 are large (10K+) strings then
``"".join([s1,s2,s3,s4,s5,s6,s7])`` may be far faster than the more obvious
``s1+s2+s3+s4+s5+s6+s7``, since the "summation" will compute many
subexpressions, whereas ``join()`` does all the copying in one pass. For
-manipulating strings, use the ``replace()`` method on string objects. Use
-regular expressions only when you're not dealing with constant string patterns.
-Consider using the string formatting operations ``string % tuple`` and ``string
-% dictionary``.
+manipulating strings, use the ``replace()`` and the ``format()`` :ref:`methods
+on string objects <string-methods>`. Use regular expressions only when you're
+not dealing with constant string patterns. You may still use :ref:`the old %
+operations <string-formatting>` ``string % tuple`` and ``string % dictionary``.
Be sure to use the :meth:`list.sort` builtin method to do sorting, and see the
`sorting mini-HOWTO <http://wiki.python.org/moin/HowTo/Sorting>`_ for examples
@@ -210,7 +211,7 @@
Another common trick is to "push loops into functions or methods." For example
suppose you have a program that runs slowly and you use the profiler to
determine that a Python function ``ff()`` is being called lots of times. If you
-notice that ``ff ()``::
+notice that ``ff()``::
def ff(x):
... # do something with x computing result...
@@ -331,24 +332,6 @@
>>> print x
11
-In Python3, you can do a similar thing in a nested scope using the
-:keyword:`nonlocal` keyword:
-
-.. doctest::
- :options: +SKIP
-
- >>> def foo():
- ... x = 10
- ... def bar():
- ... nonlocal x
- ... print x
- ... x += 1
- ... bar()
- ... print x
- >>> foo()
- 10
- 11
-
What are the rules for local and global variables in Python?
------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -411,7 +394,7 @@
It's good practice if you import modules in the following order:
-1. standard library modules -- e.g. ``sys``, ``os``, ``getopt``, ``re``)
+1. standard library modules -- e.g. ``sys``, ``os``, ``getopt``, ``re``
2. third-party library modules (anything installed in Python's site-packages
directory) -- e.g. mx.DateTime, ZODB, PIL.Image, etc.
3. locally-developed modules
@@ -420,7 +403,7 @@
``package.sub.m1`` module and want to import ``package.sub.m2``, do not just
write ``import m2``, even though it's legal. Write ``from package.sub import
m2`` instead. Relative imports can lead to a module being initialized twice,
-leading to confusing bugs.
+leading to confusing bugs. See :pep:`328` for details.
It is sometimes necessary to move imports to a function or class to avoid
problems with circular imports. Gordon McMillan says:
@@ -648,9 +631,9 @@
a = B()
b = a
print b
- <__main__.A instance at 016D07CC>
+ <__main__.A instance at 0x16D07CC>
print a
- <__main__.A instance at 016D07CC>
+ <__main__.A instance at 0x16D07CC>
Arguably the class has a name: even though it is bound to two names and invoked
through the name B the created instance is still reported as an instance of
@@ -680,7 +663,7 @@
Comma is not an operator in Python. Consider this session::
>>> "a" in "b", "a"
- (False, '1')
+ (False, 'a')
Since the comma is not an operator, but a separator between expressions the
above is evaluated as if you had entered::
@@ -689,7 +672,7 @@
not::
- >>> "a" in ("5", "a")
+ >>> "a" in ("b", "a")
The same is true of the various assignment operators (``=``, ``+=`` etc). They
are not truly operators but syntactic delimiters in assignment statements.
@@ -731,12 +714,12 @@
if not isfunction(on_true):
return on_true
else:
- return apply(on_true)
+ return on_true()
else:
if not isfunction(on_false):
return on_false
else:
- return apply(on_false)
+ return on_false()
In most cases you'll pass b and c directly: ``q(a, b, c)``. To avoid evaluating
b or c when they shouldn't be, encapsulate them within a lambda function, e.g.:
@@ -766,7 +749,7 @@
map(lambda x,y=y:y%x,range(2,int(pow(y,0.5)+1))),1),range(2,1000)))
# First 10 Fibonacci numbers
- print map(lambda x,f=lambda x,f:(x<=1) or (f(x-1,f)+f(x-2,f)): f(x,f),
+ print map(lambda x,f=lambda x,f:(f(x-1,f)+f(x-2,f)) if x>1 else 1: f(x,f),
range(10))
# Mandelbrot set
@@ -792,10 +775,11 @@
How do I specify hexadecimal and octal integers?
------------------------------------------------
-To specify an octal digit, precede the octal value with a zero. For example, to
-set the variable "a" to the octal value "10" (8 in decimal), type::
+To specify an octal digit, precede the octal value with a zero, and then a lower
+or uppercase "o". For example, to set the variable "a" to the octal value "10"
+(8 in decimal), type::
- >>> a = 010
+ >>> a = 0o10
>>> a
8
@@ -811,17 +795,17 @@
178
-Why does -22 / 10 return -3?
-----------------------------
+Why does -22 // 10 return -3?
+-----------------------------
It's primarily driven by the desire that ``i % j`` have the same sign as ``j``.
If you want that, and also want::
- i == (i / j) * j + (i % j)
+ i == (i // j) * j + (i % j)
then integer division has to return the floor. C also requires that identity to
-hold, and then compilers that truncate ``i / j`` need to make ``i % j`` have the
-same sign as ``i``.
+hold, and then compilers that truncate ``i // j`` need to make ``i % j`` have
+the same sign as ``i``.
There are few real use cases for ``i % j`` when ``j`` is negative. When ``j``
is positive, there are many, and in virtually all of them it's more useful for
@@ -829,6 +813,12 @@
ago? ``-190 % 12 == 2`` is useful; ``-190 % 12 == -10`` is a bug waiting to
bite.
+.. note::
+
+ On Python 2, ``a / b`` returns the same as ``a // b`` if
+ ``__future__.division`` is not in effect. This is also known as "classic"
+ division.
+
How do I convert a string to a number?
--------------------------------------
@@ -860,10 +850,11 @@
To convert, e.g., the number 144 to the string '144', use the built-in type
constructor :func:`str`. If you want a hexadecimal or octal representation, use
-the built-in functions ``hex()`` or ``oct()``. For fancy formatting, use
-:ref:`the % operator <string-formatting>` on strings, e.g. ``"%04d" % 144``
-yields ``'0144'`` and ``"%.3f" % (1/3.0)`` yields ``'0.333'``. See the library
-reference manual for details.
+the built-in functions :func:`hex` or :func:`oct`. For fancy formatting, see
+the :ref:`formatstrings` section, e.g. ``"{:04d}".format(144)`` yields
+``'0144'`` and ``"{:.3f}".format(1/3)`` yields ``'0.333'``. You may also use
+:ref:`the % operator <string-formatting>` on strings. See the library reference
+manual for details.
How do I modify a string in place?
@@ -961,12 +952,12 @@
... "\r\n"
... "\r\n")
>>> lines.rstrip("\n\r")
- "line 1 "
+ 'line 1 '
Since this is typically only desired when reading text one line at a time, using
``S.rstrip()`` this way works well.
-For older versions of Python, There are two partial substitutes:
+For older versions of Python, there are two partial substitutes:
- If you want to remove all trailing whitespace, use the ``rstrip()`` method of
string objects. This removes all trailing whitespace, not just a single
@@ -1092,26 +1083,26 @@
If you don't mind reordering the list, sort it and then scan from the end of the
list, deleting duplicates as you go::
- if List:
- List.sort()
- last = List[-1]
- for i in range(len(List)-2, -1, -1):
- if last == List[i]:
- del List[i]
+ if mylist:
+ mylist.sort()
+ last = mylist[-1]
+ for i in range(len(mylist)-2, -1, -1):
+ if last == mylist[i]:
+ del mylist[i]
else:
- last = List[i]
+ last = mylist[i]
If all elements of the list may be used as dictionary keys (i.e. they are all
hashable) this is often faster ::
d = {}
- for x in List:
- d[x] = x
- List = d.values()
+ for x in mylist:
+ d[x] = 1
+ mylist = list(d.keys())
In Python 2.5 and later, the following is possible instead::
- List = list(set(List))
+ mylist = list(set(mylist))
This converts the list into a set, thereby removing duplicates, and then back
into a list.
@@ -1187,7 +1178,7 @@
Use a list comprehension::
- result = [obj.method() for obj in List]
+ result = [obj.method() for obj in mylist]
More generically, you can try the following function::
@@ -1212,23 +1203,17 @@
case, use the ``pprint`` module to pretty-print the dictionary; the items will
be presented in order sorted by the key.
-A more complicated solution is to subclass ``UserDict.UserDict`` to create a
+A more complicated solution is to subclass ``dict`` to create a
``SortedDict`` class that prints itself in a predictable order. Here's one
simpleminded implementation of such a class::
- import UserDict, string
-
- class SortedDict(UserDict.UserDict):
+ class SortedDict(dict):
def __repr__(self):
- result = []
- append = result.append
- keys = self.data.keys()
- keys.sort()
- for k in keys:
- append("%s: %s" % (`k`, `self.data[k]`))
- return "{%s}" % string.join(result, ", ")
+ keys = sorted(self.keys())
+ result = ("{!r}: {!r}".format(k, self[k]) for k in keys)
+ return "{{{}}}".format(", ".join(result))
- __str__ = __repr__
+ __str__ = __repr__
This will work for many common situations you might encounter, though it's far
from a perfect solution. The largest flaw is that if some values in the
@@ -1250,14 +1235,14 @@
sorting is quite simple to do with list comprehensions. To sort a list of
strings by their uppercase values::
- tmp1 = [(x.upper(), x) for x in L] # Schwartzian transform
+ tmp1 = [(x.upper(), x) for x in L] # Schwartzian transform
tmp1.sort()
Usorted = [x[1] for x in tmp1]
To sort by the integer value of a subfield extending from positions 10-15 in
each string::
- tmp2 = [(int(s[10:15]), s) for s in L] # Schwartzian transform
+ tmp2 = [(int(s[10:15]), s) for s in L] # Schwartzian transform
tmp2.sort()
Isorted = [x[1] for x in tmp2]
@@ -1294,8 +1279,8 @@
An alternative for the last step is::
- result = []
- for p in pairs: result.append(p[1])
+ >>> result = []
+ >>> for p in pairs: result.append(p[1])
If you find this more legible, you might prefer to use this instead of the final
list comprehension. However, it is almost twice as slow for long lists. Why?
@@ -1363,7 +1348,7 @@
different thing based on what class it is. For example, if you have a function
that does something::
- def search (obj):
+ def search(obj):
if isinstance(obj, Mailbox):
# ... code to search a mailbox
elif isinstance(obj, Document):
@@ -1466,8 +1451,8 @@
How do I create static class data and static class methods?
-----------------------------------------------------------
-Static data (in the sense of C++ or Java) is easy; static methods (again in the
-sense of C++ or Java) are not supported directly.
+Both static data and static methods (in the sense of C++ or Java) are supported
+in Python.
For static data, simply define a class attribute. To assign a new value to the
attribute, you have to explicitly use the class name in the assignment::
@@ -1486,9 +1471,9 @@
search path from ``c.__class__`` back to ``C``.
Caution: within a method of C, an assignment like ``self.count = 42`` creates a
-new and unrelated instance vrbl named "count" in ``self``'s own dict. Rebinding
-of a class-static data name must always specify the class whether inside a
-method or not::
+new and unrelated instance named "count" in ``self``'s own dict. Rebinding of a
+class-static data name must always specify the class whether inside a method or
+not::
C.count = 314
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