Python Code
Samples
Easy snippets you can copy, study, and run in the browser editor.
How to Mock Fault Injection Percentage in Python
Simulate a service with a 30% failure rate using random.random to test error handling and retries.
import random
class Service:
def call(self):
if random.random() < 0.3: # 30% failure rate
raise ConnectionError("Simulated network fault")
return "ok"
def main():
svc = Service()
random.seed(42) # deterministic for demonstration
results = []
for _ in range(10):
…
How to Mock a Slow Startup Probe in Python
Simulate slow service initialization with a configurable mock delay to test readiness probes.
import time
from dataclasses import dataclass, field
@dataclass
class StartupProbe:
name: str
min_wait_sec: float = 0.5
max_wait_sec: float = 2.0
_ready: bool = field(default=False, init=False, repr=False)
def initialize(self) -> None:
"""Simulate slow startup with a fixed mock delay."""…
How to Mock a Timeout per HTTP Request in Python
Simulate a per-request HTTP timeout using unittest.mock to test timeout handling without network access.
import time
from unittest.mock import Mock, patch
# Simulate an HTTP client that might time out
def fetch_data(url, timeout=5):
time.sleep(0.5) # Simulate network delay
return f"Response from {url}"
# Mock to test timeout behavior without real network
def test_timeout():
mock_response = Mock(side_effect…
How to Mock a Try Confirm Cancel Pattern in Python
Define a simple class with confirm and cancel methods, execute a try confirm with error handling, and print the final state.
class TCC:
def __init__(self):
self.confirmed = False
self.cancelled = False
def confirm(self):
self.confirmed = True
return "confirmed"
def cancel(self):
self.cancelled = True
return "cancelled"
def try_confirm(self):
try:
result =…
How to Retry on Specific Exception Tuples in Python
A decorator-based retry pattern that retries a function only when it raises exceptions specified in a tuple, with configurable retries and delay.
import time
import random
from unittest.mock import patch
def retry_on_exceptions(retries=3, exceptions=(ValueError,), delay=0.1):
def decorator(func):
def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
for attempt in range(retries):
try:
return func(*args, **kwargs)
…
How to Stop Receiving Requests Until Ready in Python
A mock server that refuses requests until a readiness gate is passed, simulating fail-stop behavior for production reliability.
import random
import time
class MockServer:
def __init__(self):
self.ready = False
self.requests_received = 0
def readiness_check(self):
"""Simulates a readiness probe. Returns True only when ready."""
if not self.ready:
return False
return True
def r…
How to implement an idempotency key store in Python
Build an in-memory idempotency key store with TTL that processes a request once and reuses the cached result for duplicate calls.
import hashlib
import time
from typing import Dict, Optional
class IdempotencyStore:
"""Simple in-memory idempotency key store with mock processing."""
def __init__(self, ttl_seconds: int = 3600) -> None:
self.ttl = ttl_seconds
self._store: Dict[str, tuple[str, float]] = {}
def _is_expi…
How to implement rate limiting in Python
Build a simple sliding-window rate limiter in Python that enforces a max number of calls per time period and formats data with timestamps.
import time
class RateLimiter:
def __init__(self, max_calls, period):
self.max_calls = max_calls
self.period = period
self.calls = []
def allow(self):
now = time.time()
# Remove calls older than the period window
self.calls = [t for t in self.calls if now -…
How to implement rate limiting in Python
A beginner-friendly Python rate limiter that throttles API calls and retries parsing tasks with exponential backoff.
import time
import random
class RateLimiter:
def __init__(self, max_calls, per_seconds):
self.max_calls = max_calls
self.per_seconds = per_seconds
self.timestamps = []
def allow(self):
now = time.time()
self.timestamps = [t for t in self.timestamps if now - t < sel…
How to mock a fallback return value in Python
Test a function that returns a default value on failure by mocking requests.get and its side effects.
from unittest.mock import Mock, patch
import requests
def fetch_data(url, default=None):
try:
response = requests.get(url)
response.raise_for_status()
return response.json()
except (requests.RequestException, ValueError):
return default
with patch("requests.get") as mock_get:
…
Implementing Fallback with Cached Stale Data in Python
This code demonstrates a resilient data-fetching pattern that caches successful responses, falls back to cached data when the external API fails, and returns stale data as a last-resort fallback.
import random
import time
# Simulated cache dictionary: key -> (value, timestamp)
_cache = {}
_CACHE_TTL = 3 # seconds
# Mock data source (simulates an unreliable external API)
def fetch_mock_data(key):
failure = random.random() < 0.4 # 40% chance of failure
if failure:
raise ConnectionError("Mock …
Rate Limit per User ID in Python with a Dict Mock
Implements a simple sliding window rate limiter using a defaultdict of timestamps per user ID, blocking requests that exceed a max count within a time window.
import time
from collections import defaultdict
class RateLimiter:
def __init__(self, max_requests, window_seconds):
self.max_requests = max_requests
self.window_seconds = window_seconds
self.user_timestamps = defaultdict(list)
def allow_request(self, user_id):
now = time.tim…
Rate Limiting in Python with a Sliding Window
A beginner-friendly dataclass-based sliding window rate limiter that controls how many calls are allowed per time window.
import time
from dataclasses import dataclass
@dataclass
class RateLimiter:
max_calls: int
window_seconds: float = 1.0
def __post_init__(self):
self.calls = []
self._start = time.monotonic()
def _update(self, now):
self.calls = [t for t in self.calls if now - t < self.window…
Rate Limiting with Queue Rejection in Python
Simulates a load shed pattern that rejects tasks when a queue fills up.
from collections import deque
import time
class RateLimiter:
def __init__(self, max_queue_size=3):
self.queue = deque()
self.max_queue_size = max_queue_size
self.rejected_count = 0
def submit(self, task_name):
if len(self.queue) >= self.max_queue_size:
self.reject…
Rate Limiting with a Simple Python RateLimiter Class
A beginner-friendly Python rate limiter that tracks call timestamps and enforces a maximum number of calls within a rolling time window, with a helper to validate positive integers.
import time
class RateLimiter:
def __init__(self, max_calls, period_seconds):
self.max_calls = max_calls
self.period_seconds = period_seconds
self.calls = []
def is_allowed(self):
now = time.time()
while self.calls and now - self.calls[0] >= self.period_seconds:
…
Calculate Error Rate from Log Stream in Python
Parses a mock log stream to count errors and compute the error percentage using a rolling window of recent entries.
import re
from collections import deque
def error_rate_from_log_stream(message):
log_pattern = r'^\[(\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2} \d{2}:\d{2}:\d{2})\] (ERROR|INFO|DEBUG): (.*)$'
recent_entries = deque(maxlen=100)
error_count = 0
total_count = 0
for line in message.strip().split('\n'):
match = re.mat…
Check if a Timestamp Falls in a Daily Maintenance Window in Python
A small Python function that returns True when a datetime falls inside a daily maintenance window, and a demo printing yes/no for sample timestamps.
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
from zoneinfo import ZoneInfo
def in_maintenance_window(now: datetime, start_hour: int = 2, duration_hours: int = 4) -> bool:
"""Return True if 'now' falls inside the daily maintenance window."""
day_start = now.replace(hour=start_hour, minute=0, second=0, microsecond…
Generate Mock CPU and Memory Metrics in Python
Build a mock_host_metrics() generator that outputs realistic CPU and memory usage percentages for monitoring demos and tests.
import time
import random
def mock_host_metrics():
"""Generate mock CPU and memory metrics for a host."""
cpu_percent = round(random.uniform(10.0, 95.0), 1)
memory_percent = round(random.uniform(20.0, 90.0), 1)
memory_used_mb = round(random.uniform(512, 8192), 1)
return {
"timestamp": in…
Generate Prometheus Text Exposition Format in Python
Mock a Prometheus metrics endpoint by formatting metrics into the text exposition format with HELP, TYPE, and sample lines.
import time
from random import randint
# Mock a Prometheus metrics endpoint output
metrics = {
"http_requests_total": {
"help": "Total number of HTTP requests",
"type": "counter",
"samples": [
{"labels": {"method": "get", "code": "200"}, "value": randint(1000, 9999)},
…
Generate Synthetic CPU Utilization Metrics in Python
Creates realistic time-series CPU utilization samples with timestamps, noise, and output as structured JSON for observability demos and testing.
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
import random
import json
def generate_metric_samples(base_value, noise, count=60, interval_minutes=1):
"""Generate realistic CPU utilization samples for a given time window."""
timestamps = []
values = []
now = datetime.utcnow()
start_time = now - timede…
Generate Synthetic SRE Metrics and Calculate Availability in Python
Create realistic service metrics with random latency, error rate, and request counts, then compute availability and summarize the stream for SLO checks.
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
import random
def generate_service_metrics(service_name: str, minutes: int = 30) -> list[dict]:
"""Generate synthetic SRE metrics for a service across recent minutes."""
metrics = []
now = datetime.now()
for i in range(minutes):
timestamp = now - t…
How to Add Metadata Attributes to a Span in Python
Create a lightweight dataclass-based Span mock that stores key-value metadata attributes for tracing or event logging.
from dataclasses import dataclass, field
from typing import Dict, Any
@dataclass
class Span:
name: str
attributes: Dict[str, Any] = field(default_factory=dict)
def set_attribute(self, key: str, value: Any) -> None:
self.attributes[key] = value
def get_attribute(self, key: str) -> Any…
How to Build a Consumer Lag Gauge in Python
Simulate Kafka consumer lag with a Python class that tracks lag over time and reports health and averages.
import time
import random
from collections import deque
class ConsumerLagGauge:
"""Mock consumer lag gauge measuring how far behind a consumer is."""
def __init__(self, producer_rate=10, consumer_rate=7, initial_lag=0):
self.producer_rate = producer_rate
self.consumer_rate = consumer_rate
…
How to Build a Metrics Counter with Increment and Snapshot in Python
A simple dict-backed MetricsCounter class that increments named counters and returns a snapshot of the current values.
class MetricsCounter:
def __init__(self):
self._metrics = {}
def increment(self, key, delta=1):
self._metrics[key] = self._metrics.get(key, 0) + delta
def snapshot(self):
return dict(self._metrics)
if __name__ == "__main__":
counter = MetricsCounter()
counter.increment("…
Browse by section
Each section groups closely related Python snippets.
Guide: free Python code samples library
Copy-ready Python snippets for learners and developers
PythonSkillset code samples are short, focused examples organised by topic and difficulty. Every snippet is server-rendered HTML — readable by search engines and easy to copy. Open any sample, read the notes, copy the code, then press Try in editor to run it in the browser with Pyodide.
How to use this library
- Pick a topic section — strings, lists, files, functions, and more
- Open a sample, read How it works, and copy the code block
- Run it in the IDE, tweak values, then take a related quiz or tutorial lesson
Samples vs tutorials and challenges
Samples are quick reference — one concept per page. For step-by-step teaching, use our Python tutorials. To test yourself, try quizzes or coding challenges. Clean up style with the Python formatter.