
Idioms and Anti-Idioms in Python
********************************

Author:
   Moshe Zadka

This document is placed in the public domain.


Abstract
^^^^^^^^

This document can be considered a companion to the tutorial. It shows
how to use Python, and even more importantly, how *not* to use Python.


Language Constructs You Should Not Use
======================================

While Python has relatively few gotchas compared to other languages,
it still has some constructs which are only useful in corner cases, or
are plain dangerous.


from module import *
--------------------


Inside Function Definitions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

``from module import *`` is *invalid* inside function definitions.
While many versions of Python do not check for the invalidity, it does
not make it more valid, no more than having a smart lawyer makes a man
innocent. Do not use it like that ever. Even in versions where it was
accepted, it made the function execution slower, because the compiler
could not be certain which names are local and which are global. In
Python 2.1 this construct causes warnings, and sometimes even errors.


At Module Level
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While it is valid to use ``from module import *`` at module level it
is usually a bad idea. For one, this loses an important property
Python otherwise has --- you can know where each toplevel name is
defined by a simple "search" function in your favourite editor. You
also open yourself to trouble in the future, if some module grows
additional functions or classes.

One of the most awful question asked on the newsgroup is why this
code:

   f = open("www")
   f.read()

does not work. Of course, it works just fine (assuming you have a file
called "www".) But it does not work if somewhere in the module, the
statement ``from os import *`` is present. The ``os`` module has a
function called ``open()`` which returns an integer. While it is very
useful, shadowing a builtin is one of its least useful properties.

Remember, you can never know for sure what names a module exports, so
either take what you need --- ``from module import name1, name2``, or
keep them in the module and access on a per-need basis ---  ``import
module;print module.name``.


When It Is Just Fine
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are situations in which ``from module import *`` is just fine:

* The interactive prompt. For example, ``from math import *`` makes
  Python an amazing scientific calculator.

* When extending a module in C with a module in Python.

* When the module advertises itself as ``from import *`` safe.


Unadorned ``exec``, ``execfile()`` and friends
----------------------------------------------

The word "unadorned" refers to the use without an explicit dictionary,
in which case those constructs evaluate code in the *current*
environment. This is dangerous for the same reasons ``from import *``
is dangerous --- it might step over variables you are counting on and
mess up things for the rest of your code. Simply do not do that.

Bad examples:

   >>> for name in sys.argv[1:]:
   >>>     exec "%s=1" % name
   >>> def func(s, **kw):
   >>>     for var, val in kw.items():
   >>>         exec "s.%s=val" % var  # invalid!
   >>> execfile("handler.py")
   >>> handle()

Good examples:

   >>> d = {}
   >>> for name in sys.argv[1:]:
   >>>     d[name] = 1
   >>> def func(s, **kw):
   >>>     for var, val in kw.items():
   >>>         setattr(s, var, val)
   >>> d={}
   >>> execfile("handle.py", d, d)
   >>> handle = d['handle']
   >>> handle()


from module import name1, name2
-------------------------------

This is a "don't" which is much weaker than the previous "don't"s but
is still something you should not do if you don't have good reasons to
do that. The reason it is usually bad idea is because you suddenly
have an object which lives in two separate namespaces. When the
binding in one namespace changes, the binding in the other will not,
so there will be a discrepancy between them. This happens when, for
example, one module is reloaded, or changes the definition of a
function at runtime.

Bad example:

   # foo.py
   a = 1

   # bar.py
   from foo import a
   if something():
       a = 2 # danger: foo.a != a

Good example:

   # foo.py
   a = 1

   # bar.py
   import foo
   if something():
       foo.a = 2


except:
-------

Python has the ``except:`` clause, which catches all exceptions. Since
*every* error in Python raises an exception, this makes many
programming errors look like runtime problems, and hinders the
debugging process.

The following code shows a great example:

   try:
       foo = opne("file") # misspelled "open"
   except:
       sys.exit("could not open file!")

The second line triggers a ``NameError`` which is caught by the except
clause. The program will exit, and you will have no idea that this has
nothing to do with the readability of ``"file"``.

The example above is better written

   try:
       foo = opne("file") # will be changed to "open" as soon as we run it
   except IOError:
       sys.exit("could not open file")

There are some situations in which the ``except:`` clause is useful:
for example, in a framework when running callbacks, it is good not to
let any callback disturb the framework.


Exceptions
==========

Exceptions are a useful feature of Python. You should learn to raise
them whenever something unexpected occurs, and catch them only where
you can do something about them.

The following is a very popular anti-idiom

   def get_status(file):
       if not os.path.exists(file):
           print "file not found"
           sys.exit(1)
       return open(file).readline()

Consider the case the file gets deleted between the time the call to
``os.path.exists()`` is made and the time ``open()`` is called. That
means the last line will throw an ``IOError``. The same would happen
if *file* exists but has no read permission. Since testing this on a
normal machine on existing and non-existing files make it seem
bugless, that means in testing the results will seem fine, and the
code will get shipped. Then an unhandled ``IOError`` escapes to the
user, who has to watch the ugly traceback.

Here is a better way to do it.

   def get_status(file):
       try:
           return open(file).readline()
       except (IOError, OSError):
           print "file not found"
           sys.exit(1)

In this version, *either* the file gets opened and the line is read
(so it works even on flaky NFS or SMB connections), or the message is
printed and the application aborted.

Still, ``get_status()`` makes too many assumptions --- that it will
only be used in a short running script, and not, say, in a long
running server. Sure, the caller could do something like

   try:
       status = get_status(log)
   except SystemExit:
       status = None

So, try to make as few ``except`` clauses in your code --- those will
usually be a catch-all in the ``main()``, or inside calls which should
always succeed.

So, the best version is probably

   def get_status(file):
       return open(file).readline()

The caller can deal with the exception if it wants (for example, if it
tries several files in a loop), or just let the exception filter
upwards to *its* caller.

The last version is not very good either --- due to implementation
details, the file would not be closed when an exception is raised
until the handler finishes, and perhaps not at all in non-C
implementations (e.g., Jython).

   def get_status(file):
       with open(file) as fp:
           return fp.readline()


Using the Batteries
===================

Every so often, people seem to be writing stuff in the Python library
again, usually poorly. While the occasional module has a poor
interface, it is usually much better to use the rich standard library
and data types that come with Python than inventing your own.

A useful module very few people know about is ``os.path``. It  always
has the correct path arithmetic for your operating system, and will
usually be much better than whatever you come up with yourself.

Compare:

   # ugh!
   return dir+"/"+file
   # better
   return os.path.join(dir, file)

More useful functions in ``os.path``: ``basename()``,  ``dirname()``
and ``splitext()``.

There are also many useful built-in functions people seem not to be
aware of for some reason: ``min()`` and ``max()`` can find the
minimum/maximum of any sequence with comparable semantics, for
example, yet many people write their own ``max()``/``min()``. Another
highly useful function is ``reduce()``. A classical use of
``reduce()`` is something like

   import sys, operator
   nums = map(float, sys.argv[1:])
   print reduce(operator.add, nums)/len(nums)

This cute little script prints the average of all numbers given on the
command line. The ``reduce()`` adds up all the numbers, and the rest
is just some pre- and postprocessing.

On the same note, note that ``float()``, ``int()`` and ``long()`` all
accept arguments of type string, and so are suited to parsing ---
assuming you are ready to deal with the ``ValueError`` they raise.


Using Backslash to Continue Statements
======================================

Since Python treats a newline as a statement terminator, and since
statements are often more than is comfortable to put in one line, many
people do:

   if foo.bar()['first'][0] == baz.quux(1, 2)[5:9] and \
      calculate_number(10, 20) != forbulate(500, 360):
         pass

You should realize that this is dangerous: a stray space after the
``\`` would make this line wrong, and stray spaces are notoriously
hard to see in editors. In this case, at least it would be a syntax
error, but if the code was:

   value = foo.bar()['first'][0]*baz.quux(1, 2)[5:9] \
           + calculate_number(10, 20)*forbulate(500, 360)

then it would just be subtly wrong.

It is usually much better to use the implicit continuation inside
parenthesis:

This version is bulletproof:

   value = (foo.bar()['first'][0]*baz.quux(1, 2)[5:9]
           + calculate_number(10, 20)*forbulate(500, 360))
