Use PEP 8 Style Guide: The Python Enhancement Proposal (PEP) 8 style guide provides a set of coding rules for writing cleaner code in Python. It covers file organization, programming practices, formatting, naming conventions, comments, and more. By following these guidelines, you can ensure that your code is consistent with industry standards and easier to read and understand.
2. Use Decorators: Decorators are a powerful tool for adding custom functionality to functions in Python. They allow us to separate concerns and make our code more modular. For example, we could create a decorator that asks for a password before executing certain server methods. This ensures that only authorized users can access the server.
3. Use Context Managers: Context managers simplify how we interact with external resources like files and databases in Python. They automatically deallocate memory outside of their block, which makes our code more efficient and easier to read. For example, using a context manager for opening and closing files ensures that the file is closed after it has been used.
4. Use Iterators: An iterator is an object that contains a countable number of values in Python. They allow us to traverse through all the values in a list or other data structure. For example, we could use iterators to loop through a list of names and print each name one at a time.
5. Use Comments: While it’s true that comments can sometimes be unnecessary, they are essential for explaining complex code and making our code more readable. However, we should avoid leaving commented-out code in our programs as this can lead to confusion and errors. Instead, remove any unused or outdated code before pushing it to a version control system.
For more on testing clean code and writing clean test code, review the following articles:
Testing in Python
Modern Test-Driven Development in Python
In addition, we recommend checking out Django’s default project structure as an example of how your code should be structured for optimal organization and modularity. This pattern divides program logic into three interconnected parts (Model Template View) which is similar to an MVC framework that we discussed earlier. Each app in a multi-app project should have its own directory, with each file serving one specific thing. If your project is split into multiple apps, you should make sure that the apps don’t depend too much on each other.
Quality software doesn’t come without tests. Testing software allows us to discover bugs and errors in the software before it is deployed. Tests are of the same importance as production code and you should spend a fair amount of time working on them.