Python Development Best Practices

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This means using four spaces for each indentation level (no tabs or white space mixing) to keep things consistent and easy to read.

For example:

# This is an example of proper indentation with 4 spaces per level
# The if statement checks if the value of x is equal to the value of y
if x == y:
    # If the values are equal, the following statement is executed
    print("They are equal!")
else:
    # If the values are not equal, the following statement is executed
    print("Not equal.")

Next up, documentation. This involves adding comments to your code that explain what each line does in plain English. Inline comments should be used sparingly and only for bits of code that aren’t obvious on their own. For complicated methods or functions whose name isn’t easily understandable, you can include a short comment after the def line to shed some light:

# This function calculates the sum of two numbers
def add_numbers(x, y): # Defines a function named "add_numbers" that takes in two parameters, x and y
    return x + y # Returns the sum of x and y as the output of the function

For any public functions, you should also include an associated docstring. This string will become the .__doc__ attribute of your function and will officially be associated with that specific method. The PEP 257 guidelines can help you structure your docstrings:

# This function calculates the sum of two numbers and returns the result.
def add_numbers(x, y):
    """Calculates the sum of two numbers and returns the result."""
    return x + y

Finally, naming conventions. This involves using consistent and descriptive names for variables, functions, and classes that make it easy to understand what each one does. For example:

# This variable stores the number of apples in a basket
num_apples = 10  # using a descriptive name for the variable

# This function calculates the area of a rectangle given its length and width
def calculate_area(length, width):
    return length * width  # returning the calculated area

# This class represents a person with their name and age
class Person:
    def __init__(self, name, age):
        self.name = name  # assigning the name parameter to the name attribute of the person
        self.age = age  # assigning the age parameter to the age attribute of the person

By following these best practices for Python development, you’ll be able to write code that is not only syntactically correct but also in alignment with coding best practices and the way the language ought to be used.

SICORPS