5 Tricks for beginners if you are coding in Python

> For a novice, try these tricks if you haven't already

1. Function to make a noun (adjective) from a verb or an adverb from a noun (adjective)

def verbing(s):
    returns iflen(s) < 3 elses + ('ing', 'ly')['ing' ins]

>>> verbing('help')
helping
>>> verbing('helping')
helpingly

2. use a bare "*" asterisk in function parameter lists to force the caller to use keyword arguments for certain parameters

>>> def f(a, b, *, c='x', d='y', e='z'):
...     return 'Hello'

To pass the value for c, d, and e you will need to explicitly pass it as "key=value" named arguments:

>>> f(1, 2, 'p', 'q', 'v')
TypeError: f() takes 2 positional arguments but 5 were given

>>> f(1, 2, c='p', d='q',e='v')
'Hello' 

3. getpass module provides a platform-independent way to enter a password in a command-line program without echoing

>>> import getpass
>>> password = getpass.getpass()
Password:
>>> password
'alohomora'

getuser() gets the current username:

>>> getpass.getuser()
'sirius_black'

4. if the fractional component of the number is halfway between two integers, one of which is even and the other odd, then round() returns the even. This kind of rounding is called rounding to even (or banker’s rounding)

>>> round(0.5)
0
>>> round(2.4)
2
>>> round(2.5)
2
>>> round(2.6)
3
>>> round(3.5)
4
>>> round(4.5)
4

5. The built-in function sys.getsizeof() returns the size of an object in bytes. The object can be any type of object

>>> sys.getsizeof(1)
28
>>> sys.getsizeof([1, 2, 3])
88
>>> sys.getsizeof('')
49
>>> sys.getsizeof('P')
50
>>> sys.getsizeof('Py')
51
>>> sys.getsizeof('Python')
55