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How to Use lru_cache in Python for Cache-on-Miss Population
Demonstrates lru_cache to automatically populate cache on a miss and serve subsequent calls from cache, with cache info stats.
from functools import lru_cache
@lru_cache(maxsize=None)
def fetch_user(user_id):
"""Simulates a slow database fetch."""
print(f"Cache miss: fetching user {user_id} from database")
return {"id": user_id, "name": f"User {user_id}"}
if __name__ == "__main__":
user = fetch_user(1)
print(f"First call…
Build a Rate Limiter Decorator in Python
This code defines a reusable rate limiter decorator that caps function calls within a sliding time window using a deque and monotonic time.
import time
from collections import deque
def rate_limiter(max_calls: int, period: float):
calls = deque()
def decorator(func):
def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
now = time.monotonic()
while calls and now - calls[0] >= period:
calls.popleft()
if len(ca…
Build a queue-based admission control system in Python
Implement a simple bounded-queue admission controller that accepts or rejects incoming requests based on current queue capacity.
from collections import deque
import time
class AdmissionControl:
"""Simple admission control using a bounded queue.
Requests arrive at the queue; they are admitted in FIFO order.
If the queue is full, the incoming request is rejected.
"""
def __init__(self, capacity: int):
self.capacit…
Fixed Window Counter Rate Limiting in Python
A simple fixed window counter rate limiter that allows a maximum number of requests per 60-second window, with a mock time simulation.
from collections import deque
from time import time
class FixedWindowCounter:
def __init__(self, max_requests):
self.max_requests = max_requests
self.window_start = int(time())
self.window_count = 0
def allow_request(self):
current_time = int(time())
if current_time >=…
How to Implement a Rate Limiter in Python
A beginner-friendly Python class that tracks call timestamps with a deque to allow or block calls based on a max rate per time period.
import time
from collections import deque
class RateLimiter:
"""Simple rate limiter for beginners."""
def __init__(self, max_calls: int, period_seconds: float):
self.max_calls = max_calls
self.period = period_seconds
self.calls = deque()
def allow(self) -> bool:
"""Retur…
How to Implement a Sliding Window Counter in Python
This code implements an approximate sliding window counter using a deque of time-based buckets to track event counts within a recent time window.
from collections import deque
from time import time
class SlidingWindowCounter:
def __init__(self, window_size, bucket_size=1):
self.window_size = window_size
self.bucket_size = bucket_size
self.buckets = deque()
def _evict_expired(self, now):
while self.buckets and self.buck…
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 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 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:
…
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 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…
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 Compute SRE Metrics Like Error Rate and Availability in Python
Tracks log events in a sliding time window and calculates error rate per second and availability percentage using an easy-to-follow class.
from collections import deque
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
from typing import Dict, Deque
class LogMetrics:
"""Simple observability helper to track log events and calculate SRE metrics."""
def __init__(self, window_seconds: int = 60):
self.window_seconds = window_seconds
self.eve…
How to Implement Tail Sampling in Python
Sample the slowest subset of calls (tail) for latency analysis using a deque with a random ratio gate.
import random
import time
from collections import deque
class TailSampler:
def __init__(self, tail_ratio=0.1, max_samples=100):
self.tail_ratio = tail_ratio
self.max_samples = max_samples
self.samples = deque(maxlen=max_samples)
self.total_calls = 0
def record(self, latency_ms…
How to Mock HTTP Client Latency in Python
Simulate outbound HTTP request latency with configurable ranges to test timeouts, retries, and SLO monitoring without external services.
import time
import random
def mock_latency(host: str, min_ms: int = 100, max_ms: int = 500) -> dict:
"""Simulate an outbound HTTP request with mock latency."""
latency_ms = random.randint(min_ms, max_ms)
start = time.perf_counter()
time.sleep(latency_ms / 1000)
elapsed_ms = (time.perf_counter() - …
How to Ship Logs to an Aggregator Endpoint in Python
Ship batched log entries to a mock HTTP aggregator endpoint with proper error handling and response status.
import json
import requests
from datetime import datetime, timezone
LOG_ENTRIES = [
{"timestamp": "2024-01-15T10:00:00Z", "level": "INFO", "message": "Server started"},
{"timestamp": "2024-01-15T10:00:05Z", "level": "WARN", "message": "High memory usage"},
{"timestamp": "2024-01-15T10:00:10Z", "level": "E…
How to Simulate a Queue Depth Gauge in Python
Simulate a queue depth over time using a random enqueue/dequeue process, returning depth values that can be used for monitoring or testing dashboards.
import collections
import random
import time
def simulate_queue_depth(max_depth=10, steps=20):
queue = collections.deque()
depth_history = []
for _ in range(steps):
# Randomly enqueue or dequeue
if random.random() < 0.6 and len(queue) < max_depth:
queue.append("task")
…
How to mock SLI availability success ratio in Python
Simulate request outcomes with deterministic randomness and compute the SLI availability success ratio to check if a target is met.
import random
from collections import defaultdict
def mock_availability(num_requests=1000, target_ratio=0.995):
"""
Simulate request outcomes and compute the SLI availability success ratio.
Args:
num_requests: Total number of requests to simulate
target_ratio: Target availability rati…
Track Success Rates and Latency in Python: SRE Metrics Helper
A beginner-friendly Python class to record request outcomes and latencies, then report success rate, average latency, and p99.
import random
import time
from collections import defaultdict
class MetricsTracker:
"""Simple helper to track success rates and latencies for SRE beginners."""
def __init__(self):
self.successes = 0
self.failures = 0
self.latencies = []
def record(self, success, latency_ms):
…
How to Mock Service Versioning URI in Python
Run a minimal HTTP server in Python that routes requests to different versions of a service URI like /v1/users vs /v2/users.
from http.server import HTTPServer, BaseHTTPRequestHandler
import json
class VersionedHandler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
def _send_json(self, payload, status=200):
body = json.dumps(payload).encode("utf-8")
self.send_response(status)
self.send_header("Content-Type", "application/json")
…
How to Mock a Service Mesh Sidecar Proxy in Python
Simulate a service mesh sidecar proxy with route registration, service discovery, and request proxying using a simple Python class.
class SidecarProxy:
def __init__(self, name):
self.name = name
self.routes = {}
self.services = {}
self.requests_processed = 0
def register_service(self, service_name, address, port):
self.services[service_name] = f"{address}:{port}"
def add_route(self, path, servi…
How to Mock an API Gateway Router in Python
Create a lightweight HTTP server that routes requests to mock microservice responses, simulating an API gateway for local development and testing.
from http.server import HTTPServer, BaseHTTPRequestHandler
import json
class SimpleGateway(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
def do_GET(self):
routes = {
"/users": {"service": "user-service", "status": "ok", "count": 42},
"/orders": {"service": "order-service", "status": "ok", "count": 17}…
How to Mock an Ambassador Edge Proxy in Python
Build a lightweight mock Ambassador edge proxy with Python's http.server that responds to health and user endpoint requests for local development and testing.
import http.server
import json
import urllib.parse
import threading
class AmbassadorProxyHandler(http.server.BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
def do_GET(self):
parsed = urllib.parse.urlparse(self.path)
if parsed.path == "/health":
self.send_response(200)
self.send_header("Content-T…
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