DEV Community

Cover image for 5 Essential Python Tips Every Beginner Should Know!
Thameem Azfar Ansari
Thameem Azfar Ansari

Posted on

5 Essential Python Tips Every Beginner Should Know!

Hey Everyone! If you're just getting into Python, here are five super useful tips that'll make your coding journey way smoother.

1️⃣ Clean Code Using List Comprehensions
Instead of writing a loop to perform simple list transformations, use this:

nums = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
squared = [x**2 for x in nums] # [1, 4, 9, 16, 25]
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

2️⃣ Swap Two Variables without a Temp Variable
Python makes the swap easy!

a, b = 5, 10
a, b = b, a # Now a = 10, b = 5

Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

3️⃣ Use enumerate() Instead of range(len(.))
Instead of:

for i in range(len(my_list)):
print(i, my_list[i])
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Do this:

for index, value in enumerate(my_list):
print(index, value)
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

4️⃣ Use zip() to Iterate Over Multiple Lists
Need to loop over two lists at once?

names = ["Alice", "Bob", "Charlie"]
scores = [85, 90, 78]

for name, score in zip(names, scores): # zip unpacks the corresponding elements from names and scores as name and score
print(f"{name} scored {score}")
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

5️⃣ Use get() for Safe Dictionary Access
Prevent Key Errors when you Access a dictionary:

student = {"name": "John", "age": 20}
print(student.get("grade", "N/A")) # Output: "N/A" without an error
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Which of the tips was the most helpful for you? Tell me in comments!

Image of Datadog

The Essential Toolkit for Front-end Developers

Take a user-centric approach to front-end monitoring that evolves alongside increasingly complex frameworks and single-page applications.

Get The Kit

Top comments (0)

Cloudinary image

Zoom pan, gen fill, restore, overlay, upscale, crop, resize...

Chain advanced transformations through a set of image and video APIs while optimizing assets by 90%.

Explore

👋 Kindness is contagious

Please leave a ❤️ or a friendly comment on this post if you found it helpful!

Okay