Since Python is open source you can read the source code. To find out what file a particular module or function is implemented in you can usually print the __file__ attribute. Alternatively, you may use the inspect module, see the section Retrieving Source Code in the documentation of inspect. For built-in classes and methods this … Read more
In Python, what is the purpose of __slots__ and what are the cases one should avoid this? TLDR: The special attribute __slots__ allows you to explicitly state which instance attributes you expect your object instances to have, with the expected results: faster attribute access. space savings in memory. The space savings is from Storing value … Read more
Python’s GIL is intended to serialize access to interpreter internals from different threads. On multi-core systems, it means that multiple threads can’t effectively make use of multiple cores. (If the GIL didn’t lead to this problem, most people wouldn’t care about the GIL – it’s only being raised as an issue because of the increasing … Read more
Python caches integers in the range [-5, 256], so integers in that range are usually but not always identical. What you see for 257 is the Python compiler optimizing identical literals when compiled in the same code object. When typing in the Python shell each line is a completely different statement, parsed and compiled separately, … Read more
The property() function returns a special descriptor object: >>> property() <property object at 0x10ff07940> It is this object that has extra methods: >>> property().getter <built-in method getter of property object at 0x10ff07998> >>> property().setter <built-in method setter of property object at 0x10ff07940> >>> property().deleter <built-in method deleter of property object at 0x10ff07998> These act as … Read more
Class scope and list, set or dictionary comprehensions, as well as generator expressions do not mix. The why; or, the official word on this In Python 3, list comprehensions were given a proper scope (local namespace) of their own, to prevent their local variables bleeding over into the surrounding scope (see List comprehension rebinds names … Read more
Note: This answer was written before the implementation of the dict type changed, in Python 3.6. Most of the implementation details in this answer still apply, but the listing order of keys in dictionaries is no longer determined by hash values. The set implementation remains unchanged. The order is not arbitrary, but depends on the … Read more
Are dictionaries ordered in Python 3.6+? They are insertion ordered[1]. As of Python 3.6, for the CPython implementation of Python, dictionaries remember the order of items inserted. This is considered an implementation detail in Python 3.6; you need to use OrderedDict if you want insertion ordering that’s guaranteed across other implementations of Python (and other … Read more
Take a look at this: >>> a = 256 >>> b = 256 >>> id(a) 9987148 >>> id(b) 9987148 >>> a = 257 >>> b = 257 >>> id(a) 11662816 >>> id(b) 11662828 Here’s what I found in the Python 2 documentation, “Plain Integer Objects” (It’s the same for Python 3): The current implementation keeps … Read more
The Python 3 range() object doesn’t produce numbers immediately; it is a smart sequence object that produces numbers on demand. All it contains is your start, stop and step values, then as you iterate over the object the next integer is calculated each iteration. The object also implements the object.__contains__ hook, and calculates if your … Read more