TIL: Python's `collections.Counter` makes frequency counting trivial (2026)

TIL: Python's collections.Counter makes frequency counting trivial

When working with datasets, counting the frequency of elements is a common task that can be tedious and error-prone if done manually. Python's collections.Counter class provides a convenient and efficient way to achieve this.

Here's a comparison between using Counter and a manual loop:

python
# Manual loop
fruits = ['apple', 'banana', 'apple', 'orange', 'banana', 'banana']
frequency = {}
for fruit in fruits:
    if fruit in frequency:
        frequency[fruit] += 1
    else:
        frequency[fruit] = 1

# Using Counter
from collections import Counter
fruits = ['apple',

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