Top 5 Python Tricks for Beginners

Python is full of beautiful simple tricks that make tricky things easier than most other languages. Here's our countdown:

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FIVE

You can swap many numbers in place:

>>> a = 1

>>> b = 2

>>> c = 4

>>> d = 5

>>> print (a,b,c,d)

>>> d, c, b, a = a, b, c, d

>>> print (a,b,c,d)

Try it out!

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FOUR

To reverse a list: L[::-1]. Couldn't be easier.

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THREE

Use yagmail to send an email (don't annoy your friends with loops)!

>>> import yagmail

>>> mail = yagmail.SMTP({'email':'fakealias'},'password')

>>> mail.send('sender_add','subject','body')

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TWO

Reflect an array or transpose a matrix:

>>> mat = [['a', 'b', 'c'], ['d', 'e', 'f']]

>>> zip(*mat)

>>> [('a', 'd'), ('b', 'e'), ('c', 'f')]

more on using * for unpacking later!

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ONE

 Merge two dictionaries!

>>> dict_1 = {'key1' : 1, 'key2' : 2}

>>> dict_2 = {'key3' : 3, 'key4' : 4}

>>> merged_dict = {**dict_1, **dict_2}

>>> merged_dict

>>> {'key4': 4, 'key1': 1, 'key3': 3, 'key2': 2}

Let us know your top moves!