best-practices-for-writing-efficient-and-optimized-code-in-python

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Because let’s face it, nobody wants to spend hours staring at their computer screen waiting for a program to finish running.
To kick things off: use list comprehensions instead of loops whenever possible. They’re shorter, more concise, and can be up to 10 times faster than traditional loops in some cases. For example, instead of writing this:

# Create an empty list to store the values
my_list = []

# Use a for loop to iterate through a range of numbers from 0 to 9
for i in range(10):
    # Check if the current number is divisible by 2
    if i % 2 == 0:
        # If it is, add it to the list
        my_list.append(i)

# The above code can be simplified using list comprehension
# Create a list with values from 0 to 9, but only if they are divisible by 2
my_list = [i for i in range(10) if i % 2 == 0]

You can write this:

# Create a list using list comprehension
my_list = [x for x in range(10) if x % 2 == 0] # Creates a list with numbers from 0 to 9, only including even numbers

# Print the list
print(my_list) # Prints the list [0, 2, 4, 6, 8]

See? Much cleaner and easier to read! And it’s also faster because list comprehensions are optimized by Python.
Another best practice is to use generators instead of lists whenever possible. Generators can be up to 10 times smaller in memory than traditional lists, which means they take less time to create and manipulate. For example:

# This function creates a generator that yields values from 0 to 18, with a step of 2.
def my_generator():
    # The range() function creates an iterable object that generates numbers from 0 to 9.
    # The for loop iterates through this object and assigns each value to the variable i.
    for i in range(10):
        # The yield keyword returns the value of i multiplied by 2 and pauses the function until the next iteration.
        yield i * 2

This generator will produce a sequence of numbers that are twice as large as the original list. And it’s also much smaller in memory because it doesn’t create an actual list until you iterate over it using a `for` loop or other iterator.
But what if you need to modify your code later on? No problem! Just use comments to explain why you did something, rather than detailing what it does. This will make it easier for others (or future versions of yourself) to understand and maintain the code. For example:

# Calculate the sum of all even numbers in a list using a generator function
def my_generator():
    # Define a generator function that yields even numbers multiplied by 2
    for i in range(10):
        if i % 2 == 0:
            yield i * 2
    
    # Iterate over the generated sequence and calculate the sum
    total = 0
    for num in my_generator():
        # Add each number in the generated sequence to the total sum
        total += num

See? Much clearer and easier to understand! And it’s also more efficient because we only iterate over the even numbers once, rather than creating a list of all the even numbers first.
Finally, remember that coding is an art form. It requires creativity, imagination, and a willingness to experiment with new ideas and techniques. So don’t be afraid to try something different or break the rules every now and then! Just make sure you have a good reason for doing so, and document your code thoroughly so others can understand what you did and why.

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