Reference library

Python Code Samples

Medium snippets you can copy, study, and run in the browser editor.

22 matches
OOP & classes medium

How to Use __slots__ in Python Classes for Memory Efficiency

Defines classes with __slots__ to prevent dynamic attribute creation and reduce memory usage, including inheritance with additional slots.

slots oop memory
Python
```python
class Person:
    __slots__ = ("name", "age")

    def __init__(self, name: str, age: int):
        self.name = name
        self.age = age

    def greet(self) -> str:
        return f"Hi, I'm {self.name} and I'm {self.age} years old."


class Employee(Person):
    __slots__ = ("role",)

    def __init__(se…
13 0 Open
Comprehensions & generators medium

How to Generate Primes with a Generator in Python

Generate prime numbers up to a limit using the Sieve of Eratosthenes wrapped in a generator expression for lazy evaluation.

generators sieve primes
Python
def prime_generator(limit):
    sieve = [True] * (limit + 1)
    sieve[0] = sieve[1] = False

    for i in range(2, int(limit ** 0.5) + 1):
        if sieve[i]:
            for j in range(i * i, limit + 1, i):
                sieve[j] = False

    return (num for num, is_prime in enumerate(sieve) if is_prime)


if __n…
15 0 Open
Automation & scripting medium

Benchmark File Read and Write Speed in Python

Measures file write and read throughput in MB/s by writing and reading a temporary file of a given size.

benchmark file-io performance
Python
import os
import time
import tempfile

def benchmark_write(file_path, size_mb=100):
    data = b'x' * (1024 * 1024)  # 1 MB block
    start = time.perf_counter()
    with open(file_path, 'wb') as f:
        for _ in range(size_mb):
            f.write(data)
    elapsed = time.perf_counter() - start
    return size_mb …
45 0 Open
Automation & scripting medium

Build a Terminal Dashboard That Displays Real-Time System Performance in Python

A Python script that reads Linux system files to display a real-time terminal dashboard with CPU usage, memory usage, and CPU temperature.

linux system-monitoring terminal
Python
import os, time, sys
from collections import deque

def get_cpu_temp():
    try:
        with open("/sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp") as f:
            return round(int(f.read().strip()) / 1000, 1)
    except:
        return None

def get_mem_usage():
    with open("/proc/meminfo") as f:
        lines = f.readli…
42 0 Open
Concurrency & performance medium

Benchmark list.append vs deque.append in Python

Measures and compares the performance of appending to a Python list versus a collections.deque using timeit.repeat, showing best and average timings.

benchmark performance list
Python
"""Benchmark list.append vs collections.deque.append."""

import timeit

def bench(stmt, setup, repeat=5, number=1_000_000):
    times = timeit.repeat(stmt, setup=setup, repeat=repeat, number=number)
    return min(times), sum(times) / len(times)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    number = 1_000_000
    list_best, list_a…
12 0 Open
Concurrency & performance medium

Build a Python Performance Profiler That Generates Readable Reports

Use cProfile and pstats to profile Python functions and print a sorted performance report showing the top time-consuming calls.

profiling cprofile pstats
Python
import cProfile
import pstats
import io
from pathlib import Path

def slow_function():
    total = 0
    for i in range(500_000):
        total += i ** 2
    return total

def fast_function():
    total = sum(i * i for i in range(500_000))
    return total

def profile_functions():
    profiler = cProfile.Profile()
  …
44 0 Open
Concurrency & performance medium

How to Demonstrate the GIL with Python Threads vs Processes

Measure and compare wall-clock time for CPU-bound work using Python threads (limited by the GIL) versus multiprocessing (which bypasses the GIL).

gil threading multiprocessing
Python
import threading
import multiprocessing
import time
import os


def cpu_heavy(n):
    return sum(i * i for i in range(n))


def run_threads(n):
    threads = [threading.Thread(target=cpu_heavy, args=(n,)) for _ in range(2)]
    start = time.perf_counter()
    for t in threads:
        t.start()
    for t in threads:
 …
11 0 Open
Concurrency & performance medium

How to Profile CPU Hot Path in Python with cProfile and sort_stats cumtime

Profile a Python function's CPU usage by running cProfile, sorting stats by cumulative time, and printing a readable report to stdout.

cprofile profiling performance
Python
import cProfile
import pstats
import io


def slow_function():
    total = 0
    for i in range(100_000):
        total += i * i
    return total


def fast_function():
    return sum(i for i in range(100))


def main():
    slow_function()
    fast_function()


if __name__ == "__main__":
    profiler = cProfile.Profi…
12 0 Open
Concurrency & performance medium

How to Reduce Instance Memory with __slots__ in Python

Demonstrates that classes with __slots__ use less memory per instance than regular classes because they skip the instance __dict__.

__slots__ memory performance
Python
class SlottedPoint:
    __slots__ = ('x', 'y', 'z')

    def __init__(self, x, y, z):
        self.x = x
        self.y = y
        self.z = z


class RegularPoint:
    def __init__(self, x, y, z):
        self.x = x
        self.y = y
        self.z = z


if __name__ == "__main__":
    regular = RegularPoint(1, 2, 3)…
11 0 Open
Concurrency & performance medium

How to Speed Up Data Filtering with Python ThreadPoolExecutor

This code compares sequential filtering of even numbers with a threaded version using ThreadPoolExecutor, showing a measurable speedup for I/O-bound work.

threadpoolexecutor concurrency filtering
Python
import time
from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor
import random


def is_even(number):
    time.sleep(0.001)  # simulate work
    return number % 2 == 0


def filter_even_sequential(numbers):
    return [n for n in numbers if is_even(n)]


def filter_even_threaded(numbers):
    with ThreadPoolExecutor(max_…
14 0 Open
Concurrency & performance medium

How to Speed Up Downloads with ThreadPoolExecutor in Python

Compare sequential and thread-pool download loops to measure real speedup when I/O s bound.

threads concurrency performance
Python
import time
import threading
from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor

def download_file(file_id):
    """Simulate fetching a file by sleeping briefly."""
    time.sleep(0.2)  # pretend network latency
    return f"file_{file_id}"

def sequential_downloads(num_files):
    """Process files one at a time."""
  …
13 0 Open
Concurrency & performance medium

How to Use ThreadPoolExecutor for Concurrent Tasks in Python

Compare sequential execution with ThreadPoolExecutor for I/O-bound tasks, measuring speedup and timing with perf_counter.

concurrency threadpool performance
Python
import time
import threading
from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor


def fetch_data(index):
    """Simulate a synchronous data fetch."""
    time.sleep(0.1)
    return f"data-{index}"


def run_sequential(total=10):
    """Run tasks one after another."""
    start = time.perf_counter()
    results = [fetch…
14 0 Open
Concurrency & performance medium

How to Use a Weakref Cache to Avoid Memory Leaks in Python

This code demonstrates building a value cache with weakref.WeakValueDictionary so objects can be garbage collected when no longer referenced, preventing memory leaks.

weakref caching memory
Python
import weakref
import gc


class ExpensiveObject:
    def __init__(self, name):
        self.name = name

    def __repr__(self):
        return f"ExpensiveObject('{self.name}')"


class ObjectCache:
    def __init__(self):
        self._cache = weakref.WeakValueDictionary()

    def get_or_create(self, name):
       …
13 0 Open
Concurrency & performance medium

Merge K Sorted Lists in Python with heapq

Merge k sorted lists into one sorted list in O(N log k) time using a min-heap of current elements.

heapq merge sorted-lists
Python
import heapq

def merge_k_sorted_lists(lists):
    heap = []
    for i, lst in enumerate(lists):
        if lst:  # only push non-empty lists
            heapq.heappush(heap, (lst[0], i, 0))
    result = []
    while heap:
        val, list_idx, elem_idx = heapq.heappop(heap)
        result.append(val)
        if elem…
13 0 Open
Concurrency & performance medium

Profile Memory Usage with tracemalloc Snapshot Diff in Python

Use tracemalloc to take two memory snapshots, compute a diff, and print the top changes (size and count) by line number.

tracemalloc memory-profile performance
Python
import tracemalloc

def profile_memory():
    tracemalloc.start()
    
    # Allocate some objects to track
    data = [i * 2 for i in range(10000)]
    text = "x" * 5000
    nested = {"key": [1, 2, 3], "value": (4, 5)}
    
    # Take first snapshot
    snapshot1 = tracemalloc.take_snapshot()
    
    # Free some mem…
11 0 Open
Testing & modern typing medium

How to Benchmark Python Code with pytest-benchmark and mocks

Use pytest-benchmark to measure function performance while combining Mock and patch for controlled test scenarios.

pytest benchmark mock
Python
import time
from unittest.mock import Mock, patch

import pytest
from pytest_benchmark.fixture import BenchmarkFixture


def heavy_operation(data: list[int]) -> int:
    """Simulates a CPU-bound operation."""
    return sum(x * x for x in data)


def test_heavy_operation_benchmark(benchmark: BenchmarkFixture) -> None:…
14 0 Open
Testing & modern typing medium

How to Compare Execution Speed Between Python Functions

Measure and compare the average execution time of multiple Python functions using a reusable benchmark helper with time.perf_counter.

performance benchmarking time
Python
import time
import random

def method_a(values):
    """Sort using built-in sorted."""
    return sorted(values)

def method_b(values):
    """Sort using list's sort method."""
    values_copy = values[:]
    values_copy.sort()
    return values_copy

def method_c(values):
    """Sort manually using bubble sort (slow,…
37 0 Open
Testing & modern typing medium

How to Load Test a Local API with Locust in Python

Defines a Locust load test that simulates traffic to local endpoints, enabling manual load testing against a development server.

locust load-testing performance-testing
Python
from locust import HttpUser, task, between


class WebsiteUser(HttpUser):
    wait_time = between(1, 3)

    @task
    def home_page(self):
        self.client.get("/")

    @task(3)
    def about_page(self):
        self.client.get("/about")


if __name__ == "__main__":
    print("Run with: locust -f this_file.py --h…
16 0 Open
System design patterns medium

Lazy loading with a proxy in Python: defer expensive service creation

A lazy proxy defers creating an expensive service object until its method is first called, then caches it for reuse.

proxy lazy-loading design-patterns
Python
import time
import random


class ExpensiveService:
    def __init__(self, name):
        self.name = name
        print(f"Creating expensive service: {self.name}")

    def fetch_data(self):
        time.sleep(1)
        return f"Data from {self.name}: {random.randint(1, 100)}"


class LazyProxy:
    def __init__(sel…
15 0 Open
Caching & Redis medium

Cache Penetration Null Object Mock in Python

Implement a cache that stores a null marker on misses to prevent repeated database hits, reducing cache penetration.

caching null-object ttl
Python
import time
from collections import defaultdict
from typing import Any, Optional


class Cache:
    def __init__(self):
        self.store: dict[str, Any] = {}
        self.ttl: dict[str, float] = {}
        self.null_marker = object()

    def get(self, key: str, ttl: int = 60, fallback:
            Any = None) -> An…
16 0 Open
Observability & SRE medium

How to Build an HTTP Server Request Duration Histogram in Python

Create a small HTTP server that times each GET request, buckets the duration, and prints a histogram on shutdown.

http.server histogram performance
Python
import time
import random
from collections import Counter
from http.server import HTTPServer, BaseHTTPRequestHandler


class HistogramHandler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
    response_times = Counter()

    def do_GET(self):
        start = time.perf_counter()
        time.sleep(random.uniform(0.001, 0.1))
        duratio…
13 0 Open
Database scaling & optimization medium

How to Create a Covering Index with INCLUDE Columns in Python

Create a covering index with INCLUDE columns in SQLite from Python and inspect the query plan to confirm the index covers the query.

sqlite indexing covering index
Python
import sqlite3

def create_covering_index_mock():
    conn = sqlite3.connect(":memory:")
    cursor = conn.cursor()

    cursor.execute("""
        CREATE TABLE employees (
            id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
            name TEXT,
            department TEXT,
            salary INTEGER
        )
    """)

    employe…
15 0 Open

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

  1. Pick a topic section — strings, lists, files, functions, and more
  2. Open a sample, read How it works, and copy the code block
  3. 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.