Chris Some coders possess laser-like code understanding skills. They look at a piece of source code, and the meaning pops immediately into their great minds. If you present them with a new code snippet, they’ll tell you in a few seconds what it does. Since I’ve started to train this skill of rapid code understanding in … Read more
I have spent my morning hours on an important mission. What is the cleanest, fastest, and most concise answer to the following question: How do you find the key with the minimum value in a Python dictionary? Most answers on the web say you need to use a library but this is not true! Simply … Read more
This is a tutorial video from my new book “Python One-Liners” with NoStarch press (San Francisco 2020). Grab your Python One-Liner Superpower now! (Amazon Link) Here’s the code that shows you how to sample a two-dimensional Python list—including only every other list element in the resulting two-dimensional Python list. All of this happens in a … Read more
The runtime complexity of the len() function on your Python list is O(1). It takes constant runtime no matter how many elements are in the list. Why? Because the list object maintains an integer counter that increases and decreases as you add and remove list elements. Looking up the value of this counter takes constant … Read more
This Python One-Liner is part of my Python One-Liners book with NoStarch Press. Here’s the code from the video: Try It Yourself: Related Articles: Python Slicing Ternary Operator in Python Lambda Function Find Function ChrisWhile working as a researcher in distributed systems, Dr. Christian Mayer found his love for teaching computer science students. To help … Read more
The most important collection data type in Python is the list data type. You’ll use lists basically in all your future projects. So take your time and invest a good hour or so to study this guide carefully. Overview — Creating a List in Python There are many ways of creating a list in Python. … Read more
Why should you create your own coding business? Creating a coding business is not for everyone. If you go into this with the mindset of “trying this online business thing”, you won’t be successful. Beginning your coding business is hard work. Your initial work will be unpaid. And you must do it while you’re also forced … Read more
Every computer scientist loves sorting things. In this article, I’ll show you how you can modify the default Python sorting behavior with the key argument. Definition and Usage: To customize the default sorting behavior of the list.sort() and sorted() method, use the optional key argument by passing a function that returns a comparable value for … Read more
In this article, you’ll learn the ins and outs of the sorting function in Python. In particular, you’re going to learn how to sort a list of dictionaries in all possible variations. [1] So let’s get started! How to Sort a List of Dictionaries … … By Value? Problem: Given a list of dictionaries. Each … Read more
Say your file is stored in file ‘code.py’. Now, you can open the file, read all lines, get rid of leading and trailing whitespace characters, and store the result in a Python list in a single line of code. Here’s the code: Python is beautiful! ? Try it Yourself: Where to Go From Here? If … Read more
Problem: Given a list of strings. Sort the list of strings in alphabetical order. Example: Solution: Use the list.sort() method without argument to solve the list in lexicographical order which is a generalization of alphabetical order (also applies to the second, third, … characters). Try It Yourself: Related articles: The Ultimate Guide to Python Lists … Read more
Every computer scientist loves sorting things. In this article, I’ll show you how Python does it—and how you can tap into the powerful sorting features of Python lists. Definition and Usage: The list.sort() method sorts the list elements in place in an ascending manner. To customize the default sorting behavior, use the optional key argument … Read more