Welcome to the Python best practices guide! These principles will help you write cleaner, more efficient, and maintainable code. Let's dive into the essentials:
1. Code Structure & Organization
- Use PEP 8 as your style guide (indentation, spacing, line length)
- Organize code into modules and packages for better scalability
- Follow DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) and KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) principles
2. Naming Conventions
- Use snake_case for variables and functions
- Use CamelCase for class names
- Avoid single-letter names (except for temporary variables)
3. Error Handling
- Use try/except blocks to catch exceptions
- Prefer specific exceptions over generic ones
- Log errors using
logging
module for production code
4. Documentation
- Write docstrings for all public functions and classes
- Use inline comments for complex logic
- Keep documentation up-to-date with code changes
5. Testing & Debugging
- Write unit tests using
unittest
orpytest
- Use print statements or
logging
for debugging - Follow test-driven development (TDD) for better design
For deeper insights, check our Python Fundamentals Tutorial to build a strong foundation before diving into advanced practices! 🚀