Common Mistakes in Python

If you're new to a professional environment, there are quite a few mistakes you might not have been made aware of by tutorials or classes. Here are some examples:

• Committing secrets to GitHub. Use a .env file and make sure it isn't uploaded by using a .gitignore file.
• Using classes too often. If your class has the constructor and a single other method, it shouldn't be a class. It should probably just be a function.
• Nesting a huge chunk of code in a conditional block. Can you invert the condition so the code is no longer nested? I.e., instead of this:

if data:
	results = do_something()
	thing1 = results[0]
  thing2 = results[2]
  thing3 = results[3]
	...

Do this:

if not data:
	continue
results = do_something()
	thing1 = results[0]
  thing2 = results[2]
  thing3 = results[3]
...

Resources

Here are some resources for improving your Python skills:

Clean code in Python: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=o9pEzgHorH0

Top 10 common errors: https://www.toptal.com/python/top-10-mistakes-that-python-programmers-make

Code style: https://docs.python-guide.org/writing/style/

Nested data Python: https://llego.dev/posts/solving-programming-challenges-nested-data-structures-python/

Google Python refresher: https://colab.research.google.com/github/kamperh/data414/blob/main/practicals/python_numpy/python_numpy.ipynb?pli=1#scrollTo=BrEgZHHq5q4I

Great intermediate Python tips: https://hackernoon.com/intermediate-python-refresher-tutorial-project-ideas-and-tips-i28s320p