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Python Code Samples

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

18 matches
Functions & basics medium

How to Create a Counter Closure in Python

Build a closure in Python that remembers and increments a counter across calls without using global variables.

closures nonlocal state
Python
def create_counter(start=0):
    count = start
    def increment():
        nonlocal count
        count += 1
        return count
    return increment

if __name__ == "__main__":
    counter = create_counter(10)
    print(counter())
    print(counter())
    print(counter())
13 0 Open
OOP & classes medium

Borg pattern shared state in Python

Implement the Borg pattern to share state across class instances by assigning a class-level dictionary to each instance's __dict__.

borg monostate shared-state
Python
class Borg:
    _shared_state = {}

    def __init__(self):
        self.__dict__ = Borg._shared_state


class ConfigManager(Borg):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()
        if not hasattr(self, "settings"):
            self.settings = {}

    def set(self, key, value):
        self.settings[key] = va…
15 0 Open
OOP & classes medium

How to Implement the State Pattern in Python

Implement the State design pattern in Python by delegating behavior to state objects, letting a media player change actions dynamically without if-else chains.

state-pattern design-patterns oop
Python
class State:
    def play(self, player): pass
    def pause(self, player): pass
    def stop(self, player): pass

class PlayingState(State):
    def play(self, player):
        return "Already playing"
    def pause(self, player):
        player.state = PausedState()
        return "Pausing playback"
    def stop(self…
12 0 Open
OOP & classes medium

How to Use __getstate__ and __setstate__ for Pickle in Python

Customize Python object serialization with the pickle __getstate__ and __setstate__ hooks to control exactly what data is stored and how it is restored.

pickle serialization getstate
Python
import pickle

class Temperature:
    def __init__(self, celsius):
        self.celsius = celsius

    def __getstate__(self):
        """Customize what gets pickled."""
        state = self.__dict__.copy()
        # Convert to Fahrenheit for storage (simulate transformation)
        state['fahrenheit'] = (self.celsiu…
13 0 Open
OOP & classes medium

Memento Pattern in Python: Save and Restore Object State

Implement the Memento design pattern to snapshot and restore an object's state, demonstrated with a text editor undo feature.

memento design-pattern undo
Python
class TextEditor:
    def __init__(self, text="", cursor_pos=0):
        self.text = text
        self.cursor_pos = cursor_pos

    def type_text(self, new_text):
        self.text += new_text
        self.cursor_pos += len(new_text)

    def move_cursor(self, pos):
        self.cursor_pos = max(0, min(pos, len(self.t…
14 0 Open
Algorithms & data structures medium

Game of Life Next State Grid in Python

Compute the next generation of Conway's Game of Life from a 2D grid using the standard three rules with neighbor counting.

game-of-life grid cellular-automaton
Python
def next_state(grid):
    m, n = len(grid), len(grid[0])
    new = [[0] * n for _ in range(m)]
    for r in range(m):
        for c in range(n):
            total = 0
            for dr in (-1, 0, 1):
                for dc in (-1, 0, 1):
                    if dr == 0 and dc == 0:
                        continue
   …
14 0 Open
Automation & scripting medium

Find Zombie Processes on Linux with Python

Parse the output of `ps -eo pid,stat,comm` to detect processes in zombie state (Z) on a Linux system and report their PIDs and commands.

linux process monitoring
Python
#!/usr/bin/env python3
import os
import subprocess

def find_zombie_processes():
    """Find zombie processes (state 'Z') running on Linux."""
    try:
        result = subprocess.run(['ps', '-eo', 'pid,stat,comm'], capture_output=True, text=True, check=True)
        zombies = []
        for line in result.stdout.stri…
38 0 Open
Automation & scripting medium

Scrape HTML Tables in Python with html.parser

Extract data from HTML tables using Python's built-in html.parser module, without third-party dependencies, by overriding callback methods to track table, row, and cell states.

html scraping parser
Python
import html.parser
from urllib.request import urlopen


class TableParser(html.parser.HTMLParser):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()
        self.in_table = False
        self.in_row = False
        self.in_cell = False
        self.current_cell = []
        self.rows = []
        self.row = []

    d…
12 0 Open
Concurrency & performance medium

How to Share a Dict and List Between Processes with multiprocessing Manager in Python

This code demonstrates how to share a dictionary and a list between multiple processes using multiprocessing.Manager, enabling safe concurrent updates.

multiprocessing manager shared-state
Python
import multiprocessing as mp


def worker(shared_dict, shared_list, name):
    shared_dict[name] = name.upper()
    shared_list.append(name)
    print(f"{name} added to shared structures")


def main():
    with mp.Manager() as manager:
        shared_dict = manager.dict()
        shared_list = manager.list()

       …
14 0 Open
Concurrency & performance medium

How to Use threading.RLock in Python

Demonstrates threading.RLock, a reentrant lock that allows the same thread to acquire it multiple times without deadlocking — essential for recursive functions sharing state across threads.

threading rlock concurrency
Python
import threading
import time

lock = threading.RLock()
shared_counter = 0

def recursive_increment(value, depth):
    global shared_counter
    with lock:
        shared_counter += 1
        print(f"Depth {depth}: counter = {shared_counter}")
        if depth > 1:
            recursive_increment(value, depth - 1)

def…
14 0 Open
System design patterns medium

Circuit Breaker Pattern in Python: Closed, Open, and Half-Open States

Implement a circuit breaker with closed, open, and half-open states to prevent repeated calls to failing services and allow recovery after a timeout.

circuit-breaker resilience fault-tolerance
Python
class CircuitBreaker:
    def __init__(self, failure_threshold=3, timeout_seconds=5):
        self.failure_threshold = failure_threshold
        self.timeout_seconds = timeout_seconds
        self.state = "closed"
        self.failure_count = 0
        self.last_failure_time = None

    def record_success(self):
     …
14 0 Open
System design patterns medium

How to Implement the Flyweight Pattern in Python

Implements the Flyweight design pattern to share immutable intrinsic state (character + font) across many document objects, reducing memory usage.

flyweight design-patterns memory-optimization
Python
class Character:
    """Flyweight - stores only intrinsic state (shared)."""

    def __init__(self, char: str, font: str):
        self.char = char
        self.font = font

    def render(self, size: int) -> str:
        return f"{self.char}_{self.font}_{size}"


class CharacterFactory:
    """Flyweight factory - ma…
15 0 Open
System design patterns medium

Singleton Config Loader in Python with Caution

Implements a singleton config loader in Python that reads JSON config files, but demonstrates the hidden gotcha of shared state across instances.

singleton config design-patterns
Python
import json
from pathlib import Path

class ConfigLoader:
    _instance = None

    def __new__(cls, *args, **kwargs):
        if cls._instance is None:
            cls._instance = super().__new__(cls)
        return cls._instance

    def __init__(self, config_file="config.json"):
        if not hasattr(self, "loaded…
12 0 Open
Reliability & rate limiting medium

How to Implement a Circuit Breaker in Python

A Python dataclass that provides circuit breaker logic with closed, open, and half-open states to fail fast on repeated errors.

circuit-breaker resilience fault-tolerance
Python
from dataclasses import dataclass
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
import time


@dataclass
class CircuitBreaker:
    failure_threshold: int = 3
    timeout_seconds: float = 5.0
    failures: int = 0
    state: str = "closed"
    last_failure: datetime = None

    def call(self, func):
        if self.state ==…
15 0 Open
Reliability & rate limiting medium

How to Mock a Circuit Breaker Reset Timeout in Python

This code implements a simple circuit breaker with a reset timeout test, simulating a flaky service to show half-open state transitions.

circuit-breaker reliability mock-testing
Python
import time
import random


class CircuitBreaker:
    def __init__(self, failure_threshold=3, reset_timeout=5):
        self.failure_threshold = failure_threshold
        self.reset_timeout = reset_timeout
        self.failure_count = 0
        self.last_failure_time = None
        self.state = "CLOSED"  # CLOSED (nor…
15 0 Open
Big data & Spark medium

Accumulators Global Counter Mock in Python

Shows an accumulator-style global counter with a mock patch to control its value in tests.

accumulator global state mock
Python
import unittest
from unittest.mock import patch

# Module-level global counter accumulator
counter = 0

def increment(by=1):
    """Increment the global counter in place (accumulator pattern)."""
    global counter
    counter += by
    return counter

def reset():
    """Reset the counter to zero."""
    global count…
14 0 Open
Database scaling & optimization medium

How to Explain SQLite Query Plans in Python

Build a Python function that runs EXPLAIN QUERY PLAN on SQLite in-memory tables and prints the optimizer's execution plan for any SELECT statement.

sqlite query-plan optimization
Python
import sqlite3

def explain_query(sql: str) -> str:
    """Return the SQLite query plan for the given SQL statement."""
    conn = sqlite3.connect(":memory:")
    cursor = conn.cursor()
    
    # Create sample data for a realistic plan
    cursor.execute("CREATE TABLE users (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, name TEXT)")
    c…
14 0 Open
Production deployment patterns medium

How to mock S3 remote backend for Terraform in Python

Simulate a Terraform S3 remote backend using moto to write and read state files, enabling local testing without real AWS.

boto3 moto terraform
Python
import boto3
from moto import mock_aws
import json
from pathlib import Path

@mock_aws
def demo_s3_remote_backend():
    s3 = boto3.client("s3", region_name="us-east-1")
    bucket = "terraform-state-bucket"
    key = "env/prod/terraform.tfstate"
    
    s3.create_bucket(Bucket=bucket)
    
    # Simulate Terraform w…
14 0 Open

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