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Python Code Samples

Copy-ready Python snippets by topic and difficulty — short, focused, and runnable in the browser editor.

589 matches
Reliability & rate limiting easy

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.

unittest mocking requests
Python
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:
…
16 0 Open
Reliability & rate limiting medium

How to retry idempotent operations with a mock in Python

Wrap a flaky idempotent operation in a retry loop with exponential backoff, and use unittest.mock to deterministically test the str's behavior.

retry backoff mock
Python
import random
import time
from unittest.mock import Mock


def idempotent_operation(value):
    """Simulate an idempotent operation that sometimes fails."""
    if random.random() < 0.6:  # 60% failure rate
        raise ConnectionError("Temporary failure")
    return value * 2


def retry_with_backoff(operation, max_…
15 0 Open
Reliability & rate limiting medium

Mock Distributed Rate Limiter with Dict in Python

Simulates a distributed token-bucket rate limiter with a thread-safe dict, useful for testing before moving to Redis.

rate-limiting token-bucket threading
Python
import time
import threading
from collections import defaultdict


class DistributedRateLimiter:
    """
    A mock distributed rate limiter using a dict with thread-safe access.
    Implements a token bucket algorithm per user.
    """

    def __init__(self, rate_per_second=5, burst_capacity=10):
        self.rate_p…
14 0 Open
Reliability & rate limiting medium

Mock a Two-Phase Commit Coordinator in Python

Simulates a two-phase commit protocol where a coordinator asks participants to prepare, then commits or aborts based on unanimous readiness.

two-phase commit distributed systems transactions
Python
import random
import time
from typing import Dict, List


class TwoPhaseCommitCoordinator:
    def __init__(self, participants: List[str]):
        self.participants = participants
        self.participant_state: Dict[str, bool] = {}

    def prepare(self) -> bool:
        print("[Coordinator] Phase 1: Prepare")
     …
13 0 Open
Reliability & rate limiting easy

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.

rate-limiting defaultdict sliding-window
Python
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…
16 0 Open
Reliability & rate limiting medium

Saga Compensating Transaction Mock in Python

Simulates a distributed transaction using a saga pattern with compensating actions that roll back steps on failure.

saga transaction compensation
Python
import random
import time


class OrderService:
    def __init__(self):
        self.orders = {}

    def create_order(self, order_id):
        print(f"[Order] Creating order {order_id}...")
        time.sleep(0.1)
        if random.random() < 0.3:  # 30% chance of failure
            raise RuntimeError(f"Order {order…
13 0 Open
Observability & SRE easy

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.

logging regex error-rate
Python
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…
18 0 Open
Observability & SRE medium

Export Metrics with OTLP Mock in Python

Simulates system metric collection and exports them as an OTLP-like JSON payload using only Python's standard library.

otlp metrics observability
Python
from dataclasses import dataclass, asdict
import json
import random
import time


@dataclass
class Metric:
    name: str
    value: float
    timestamp: int
    unit: str = "1"


def collect_system_metrics() -> list[Metric]:
    """Mock metric collection for OTLP export simulation."""
    now = int(time.time())
    re…
15 0 Open
Observability & SRE easy

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.

mock metrics monitoring
Python
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…
18 0 Open
Observability & SRE easy

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.

prometheus metrics observability
Python
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)},
         …
17 0 Open
Observability & SRE easy

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.

dataclasses observability tracing
Python
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…
15 0 Open
Observability & SRE medium

How to Build a Python Latency Histogram with Mock Buckets

This code implements a mock latency histogram that records request durations into configurable buckets and outputs counts, total, and average latency.

histogram latency metrics
Python
import time
import random
from collections import Counter


class LatencyHistogram:
    def __init__(self, buckets):
        self.buckets = sorted(buckets)
        self.counts = Counter()
        self.total = 0
        self.sum_latency = 0

    def record(self, latency_ms):
        for i, boundary in enumerate(self.bu…
14 0 Open
Observability & SRE easy

How to Calculate Percentile Latency in Python

Generate mock latency samples with occasional spikes and compute 50th, 90th, 95th, and 99th percentile values in milliseconds.

percentile latency slo
Python
import random
import statistics

def generate_latency_samples(n=1000):
    """Generate realistic mock latency data (ms) with occasional spikes."""
    samples = []
    for _ in range(n):
        # Normal case: ~50ms with jitter
        base = random.gauss(50, 5)
        # 2% spike chance: slow downstream or GC pause
 …
15 0 Open
Observability & SRE easy

How to Calculate SLO Error Budget in Python

Simulate an SLO error budget by computing allowed downtime from a target availability percentage and mocking monthly incidents.

slo error-budget monitoring
Python
```python
import random


def calculate_error_budget(total_seconds: int, target_availability: float) -> float:
    return (1.0 - target_availability) * total_seconds


def simulate_monthly_availability(seconds_in_month: int, budget_seconds: float) -> float:
    # Mock: randomly consume a fraction of the error budget i…
16 0 Open
Observability & SRE easy

How to Check Service Readiness Dependencies in Python

This code simulates a readiness check for external dependencies (database, cache, queue) with mock availability data and reports readiness status.

readiness dependencies health-check
Python
import sys
from datetime import datetime


def check_dependencies(config):
    results = []
    for dep, required in config.items():
        available = mock_availability(dep)
        status = "READY" if available >= required else "NOT READY"
        results.append((dep, available, required, status))
    return result…
12 0 Open
Observability & SRE medium

How to Check Uptime with a Synthetic HTTP Mock in Python

Run a mock HTTP server locally and probe it with urllib to measure synthetic uptime and response times, perfect for testing monitoring logic without external dependencies.

uptime http-server monitoring
Python
import http.server
import threading
import time
import urllib.request


class MockHandler(http.server.BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
    def do_GET(self):
        if self.path == "/health":
            self.send_response(200)
            self.send_header("Content-Type", "application/json")
            self.end_headers()
   …
15 0 Open
Observability & SRE easy

How to Create a Deep Health Check Database in Python

Setup a SQLite-backed health check database, insert mock data with response times and statuses, and generate a report ordered by most recent check.

sqlite health-check database
Python
import sqlite3
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
from pathlib import Path

DB_PATH = Path("deep_health_check.db")


def setup_database():
    conn = sqlite3.connect(DB_PATH)
    cursor = conn.cursor()
    cursor.execute("""
        CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS health_checks (
            id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AU…
15 0 Open
Observability & SRE medium

How to Create a Mock OpenTelemetry Trace in Python

Create a mock OpenTelemetry trace in memory to test span creation, attributes, and parent-child relationships without exporting to a backend.

opentelemetry tracing testing
Python
from opentelemetry import trace
from opentelemetry.sdk.trace import TracerProvider
from opentelemetry.sdk.trace.export import SimpleSpanProcessor
from opentelemetry.sdk.trace.export.in_memory_span_exporter import InMemorySpanExporter


def create_mock_trace():
    tracer_provider = TracerProvider()
    span_exporter =…
14 0 Open
Observability & SRE medium

How to Create a StatsD UDP Metric Mock Server in Python

Run a lightweight mock UDP server that captures StatsD metrics over a short window for local testing.

statsd udp sockets
Python
import socket
import threading
import time


def start_mock_statsd_server(host="127.0.0.1", port=8125, timeout=3):
    """Run a mock StatsD UDP server that captures metrics for a short window."""
    sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_DGRAM)
    sock.bind((host, port))
    sock.settimeout(timeout)
    me…
13 0 Open
Observability & SRE medium

How to Create a TCP DNS Mock Server in Python

This code creates a mock TCP DNS server that listens on a specified port, accepts probe connections, and returns a fixed DNS response header to simulate a live DNS service for testing and observability.

socket dns tcp
Python
import socket
import threading


def handle_client(client_socket, address):
    print(f"[+] Connection from {address}")
    try:
        while True:
            data = client_socket.recv(1024)
            if not data:
                break
            print(f"[*] Received {len(data)} bytes (TCP DNS probe)")
          …
18 0 Open
Observability & SRE easy

How to Generate and Propagate W3C Trace Context Headers in Python

Generate and propagate W3C traceparent and tracestate headers for distributed tracing in Python, with mock service headers.

observability tracing w3c
Python
import uuid


def generate_w3c_traceparent(trace_id=None, parent_id=None, flags="01"):
    if trace_id is None:
        trace_id = uuid.uuid4().hex[:32]
    if parent_id is None:
        parent_id = uuid.uuid4().hex[:16]
    return f"00-{trace_id}-{parent_id}-{flags}"


def create_mock_headers(service_name, trace_id=N…
16 0 Open
Observability & SRE medium

How to Implement an Error Budget Policy in Python

This code implements a mock error budget policy that decides whether to freeze deployments based on a simulated error rate and monthly freeze limits.

error-budget sre deploy-freeze
Python
from datetime import datetime, timedelta

class ErrorBudgetPolicy:
    FREEZE_WINDOW_HOURS = 24
    MAX_FREEZES_PER_MONTH = 3

    def __init__(self, budget_percentage=99.9):
        self.budget_percentage = budget_percentage
        self.freeze_count = 0
        self.last_freeze_start = None
        self.freeze_enabl…
14 0 Open
Observability & SRE easy

How to Link Parent and Child Span Elements in Python

This code defines a lightweight mock element class and a function that links child elements to a parent when their ranges are nested within the parent's range.

spans nesting mock
Python
class MockElement:
    def __init__(self, name, start, end, children=None):
        self.name = name
        self.start = start
        self.end = end
        self.children = children or []

    def __repr__(self):
        return f"MockElement({self.name}, {self.start}-{self.end})"


def link_parent_child(parent, chil…
16 0 Open
Observability & SRE easy

How to Mock Database Query Duration in Python

Simulate realistic database query durations with random jitter for testing dashboards, alerts, and SLO calculations.

observability mock metrics
Python
import random
import time


def mock_query_duration(db_name, avg_ms, jitter_ms=5, runs=3):
    """Simulate database query durations with realistic variation."""
    durations = []
    for _ in range(runs):
        # Base duration plus random jitter (can be negative)
        duration = avg_ms + random.uniform(-jitter_m…
15 0 Open

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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.

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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.