Reference library

Python Code Samples

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

218 matches
Reliability & rate limiting easy

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.

idempotency cache ttl
Python
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…
16 0 Open
Observability & SRE easy

How to Flush Metrics on Graceful Shutdown in Python

Register an atexit handler to automatically flush collected metrics when a Python process exits gracefully.

atexit metrics graceful-shutdown
Python
import atexit
import time
import random


class MetricsCollector:
    def __init__(self):
        self._metrics = []
        atexit.register(self.flush)

    def record(self, name, value):
        self._metrics.append((name, value, time.time()))

    def flush(self):
        print(f"Flushing {len(self._metrics)} metri…
15 0 Open
Observability & SRE easy

How to Process System Metrics (RSS, CPU) in Python

Simulate and aggregate RSS and CPU system metrics to compute averages and maximums for monitoring dashboards.

metrics rss cpu
Python
import random
import time
from collections import namedtuple

Metric = namedtuple("Metric", ["name", "value", "unit"])


def generate_metrics(num_metrics: int = 5) -> list:
    """Simulate a batch of system metrics."""
    metrics = []
    for i in range(num_metrics):
        rss = random.randint(50, 500)  # MB
      …
13 0 Open
Observability & SRE easy

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.

queue simulation monitoring
Python
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")
       …
14 0 Open
Microservices patterns medium

Distributed tracing with contextvars in Python

Propagate trace and span IDs across function calls using contextvars to mock distributed tracing in a single process.

tracing contextvars microservices
Python
import contextvars
import uuid
import time

_trace_context = contextvars.ContextVar("trace_context", default=None)


class TraceContext:
    def __init__(self, trace_id, parent_span_id):
        self.trace_id = trace_id
        self.parent_span_id = parent_span_id
        self.span_id = uuid.uuid4().hex[:16]
        s…
15 0 Open
Microservices patterns easy

How to Check an External Gateway vs Use an Internal Mock in Python

This code checks whether an external network gateway is reachable using ping, then falls back to a deterministic internal mock for testing environments.

network-check mock microservices
Python
import subprocess
import sys

def check_external_gateway():
    """True if we can reach an external network target."""
    try:
        subprocess.run(
            ["ping", "-c", "1", "-W", "2", "8.8.8.8"],
            capture_output=True,
            timeout=3,
            check=True,
        )
        return True
  …
15 0 Open
Microservices patterns easy

How to Deduplicate Events in Python with SHA256 Hashing

Build an event deduplicator that identifies duplicate inbox messages using SHA256 hashes and tracks duplicate counts per event type.

deduplication event-processing hashing
Python
```python
import hashlib
import json
from collections import defaultdict


class EventDeduplicator:
    def __init__(self):
        self.seen_hashes = set()
        self.duplicate_counts = defaultdict(int)

    def process_event(self, event):
        event_key = f"{event['event_id']}:{event['timestamp']}"
        even…
13 0 Open
Microservices patterns easy

Idempotent Consumer Event Processing in Python

Track processed event IDs to skip duplicates and count event types for a reliable, idempotent consumer.

idempotency events microservices
Python
import json
from collections import defaultdict

class EventProcessor:
    def __init__(self):
        self.processed_ids = set()
        self.counts = defaultdict(int)

    def process_event(self, event):
        event_id = event["id"]
        if event_id in self.processed_ids:
            return {"status": "skipped"…
15 0 Open
Big data & Spark medium

How to Implement a Streaming Watermark in Python

Mock structured streaming watermarks in Python to track late event times and compute a watermark for windowed processing.

streaming watermark spark
Python
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
import time

class StreamingWatermark:
    """Mock watermark tracker for structured streaming."""

    def __init__(self, watermark_delay_seconds):
        self.watermark_delay = timedelta(seconds=watermark_delay_seconds)
        self.max_event_time = None

    def observe_even…
15 0 Open
Big data & Spark medium

How to Implement row_number Window Function in Python

This code implements a SQL-style ROW_NUMBER() window function in pure Python, partitioning rows by a set of columns and ranking them within each partition by an ordered set of columns.

window-functions data-processing row-number
Python
from collections import defaultdict
import itertools


def row_number(rows, partition_by, order_by):
    partitions = defaultdict(list)
    for index, row in enumerate(rows):
        key = tuple(row[col] for col in partition_by)
        partitions[key].append((index, row))

    result = []
    for key in partitions:
 …
18 0 Open
Big data & Spark medium

How to Mock Spark Streaming Micro-Batches in Python

Simulate Spark's micro-batch streaming with a simple deque-based class that collects events over time and processes them in timed batches.

spark streaming micro-batch
Python
import time
from collections import deque
from datetime import datetime


class MicroBatchStream:
    def __init__(self, batch_interval_sec=2):
        self.batch_interval = batch_interval_sec
        self.source = deque()
        self.processed = []

    def add_events(self, events):
        self.source.extend(events…
13 0 Open
ML engineering pipelines medium

Bayesian Optimization in Python: A Simplified Mock Implementation

A toy Bayesian optimization loop with a Gaussian process prior, expected improvement acquisition, and noisy sampling to find a function's minimum.

bayesian-optimization gaussian-process hyperparameter-tuning
Python
import random
import math

class BayesianOptimizer:
    def __init__(self, noise=0.1):
        self.noise = noise
        self.observations = []
    
    def objective(self, x):
        return (math.sin(3*x) + 0.5*x) / (1 + x**2)
    
    def gaussian_process_prior(self, x1, x2, length_scale=0.5):
        return math.…
13 0 Open
ML engineering pipelines medium

How to Build a Mock ML Pipeline with Prefect in Python

Create a lightweight Prefect flow with mock preprocessing, training, and evaluation tasks to prototype an ML pipeline end-to-end.

prefect machine-learning pipeline
Python
from prefect import task, flow
from datetime import datetime


@task
def preprocess_data(raw_value: float) -> float:
    """Mock preprocessing: normalize the input value."""
    return raw_value / 100.0


@task
def train_model(features: float) -> dict:
    """Mock training: return a fake model artifact."""
    return …
12 0 Open
ML engineering pipelines medium

How to Build an sklearn Pipeline with ColumnTransformer in Python

A mock example showing how to chain preprocessing and a regression model into a single sklearn Pipeline, scaling numeric features and one-hot encoding categorical features with ColumnTransformer.

sklearn pipeline columntransformer
Python
import numpy as np
from sklearn.compose import ColumnTransformer
from sklearn.preprocessing import StandardScaler, OneHotEncoder
from sklearn.pipeline import Pipeline
from sklearn.linear_model import LinearRegression

# Mock dataset
X = np.array([[1, 'red'], [2, 'blue'], [3, 'red'], [4, 'green'], [5, 'blue']], dtype=o…
14 0 Open
ML engineering pipelines easy

How to Load, Save, and Split JSON Data in Python

Provides helper functions to load, save, and split JSON dictionary data for simple ML pipeline preprocessing.

json data-splitting ml-pipeline
Python
import json
from pathlib import Path


def load_json_data(file_path):
    """Load JSON data from a file, returning an empty dict if missing."""
    path = Path(file_path)
    if path.exists():
        with path.open("r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
            return json.load(f)
    return {}


def save_json_data(data, f…
14 0 Open
ML engineering pipelines medium

How to Mock ROC AUC in Python

Compute ROC AUC from scratch in Python using pairwise comparisons between positive and negative score distributions, ideal for testing ML models without sklearn.

machine-learning model-evaluation auc
Python
import random
from math import comb


def mock_roc_auc(scores, labels):
    """Compute mock ROC AUC by simulating a classifier's score distribution."""
    random.seed(42)
    n = len(labels)
    pos_scores = [scores[i] for i in range(n) if labels[i] == 1]
    neg_scores = [scores[i] for i in range(n) if labels[i] == …
13 0 Open
ML engineering pipelines easy

How to do feature selection with VarianceThreshold in Python

This code demonstrates how to use scikit-learn's VarianceThreshold to remove low-variance features from a NumPy array, keeping only those that vary enough to be useful for modeling.

feature selection sklearn machine learning
Python
import numpy as np
from sklearn.feature_selection import VarianceThreshold

def main():
    # Mock dataset: 4 samples, 5 features
    X = np.array([
        [0.1, 0.2, 1.0, 1.0, 0.5],
        [0.2, 0.2, 0.0, 1.0, 0.4],
        [0.1, 0.2, 1.0, 1.0, 0.6],
        [0.3, 0.2, 1.0, 0.0, 0.5]
    ])

    # Select features w…
15 0 Open
ML engineering pipelines easy

One Hot Encode Categories in Python

Convert a list of categorical strings into one-hot encoded numeric vectors using pure Python and NumPy.

one-hot encoding categorical numpy
Python
import numpy as np

categories = ["red", "green", "blue", "red", "blue", "green", "red"]

unique = sorted(set(categories))
lookup = {cat: i for i, cat in enumerate(unique)}

one_hot = []
for cat in categories:
    row = [0] * len(unique)
    row[lookup[cat]] = 1
    one_hot.append(row)

print("Categories:", categories…
14 0 Open
ML engineering pipelines easy

StandardScaler mock in Python

A pure-Python StandarScaler class that standardizes features to zero mean and unit variance without sklearn.

scaling preprocessing machine-learning
Python
import math

class StandardScaler:
    def __init__(self):
        self.mean_ = None
        self.std_ = None

    def fit(self, X):
        n = len(X)
        self.mean_ = [sum(col) / n for col in zip(*X)]
        self.std_ = []
        for col in zip(*X):
            variance = sum((x - self.mean_[i]) ** 2 for i, x …
12 0 Open
A/B testing & experimentation medium

Benjamini Hochberg FDR Correction in Python

Implement the Benjamini-HHochberg false discovery rate (FDR) procedure in Python to control the expected proportion of false positives among rejected hypotheses.

fdr multiple testing hypothesis testing
Python
import numpy as np

def benjamini_hochberg(p_values, alpha=0.05):
    p_values = np.array(p_values)
    n = len(p_values)
    sorted_idx = np.argsort(p_values)
    sorted_p = p_values[sorted_idx]
    
    thresholds = (np.arange(1, n + 1) / n) * alpha
    significant = sorted_p <= thresholds
    
    if not significan…
17 0 Open
Database scaling & optimization medium

Build a Full Text Search Index in Python

Create a simple inverted index for full-text search with the standard library, supporting multi-word AND queries across documents.

search inverted-index text-processing
Python
import re
from collections import defaultdict


class SimpleTextIndex:
    def __init__(self):
        self.index = defaultdict(list)
        self.documents = {}

    def add_document(self, doc_id, text):
        self.documents[doc_id] = text
        words = set(re.findall(r'\w+', text.lower()))
        for word in wo…
14 0 Open
Database scaling & optimization easy

How to Limit a Result Set to Top N Rows in Python

Sort a list of dictionaries by a numeric key and return only the top N results, formatted as a readable ranked list.

sorting slicing top-n
Python
import random

def top_n_mock(limit: int = 5):
    """Return a formatted top-N result set as a mock example."""
    # Simulated data source
    scores = [
        {"name": "Alice", "score": 87},
        {"name": "Bob", "score": 92},
        {"name": "Charlie", "score": 78},
        {"name": "Diana", "score": 95},
    …
17 0 Open
Production deployment patterns easy

Docker healthcheck CMD mock in Python

Runs a subprocess to curl a health endpoint and returns exit code 0 when healthy, 1 when unhealthy, mimicking a Docker HEALTHCHECK command.

docker healthcheck subprocess
Python
import subprocess
import sys


def run_healthcheck() -> int:
    result = subprocess.run(["curl", "-fsS", "http://localhost:8080/health"], capture_output=True, text=True)
    if result.returncode == 0:
        print("healthy")
        return 0
    print("unhealthy", file=sys.stderr)
    return 1


if __name__ == "__ma…
19 0 Open
Production deployment patterns easy

How to Build a Data Helper for Production Deployment in Python

Build a reusable DataHelper class that loads configs, validates required keys, normalizes string values, and logs schema details — a production-ready data processing pattern.

json pathlib data-processing
Python
import json
from pathlib import Path
from typing import Any, Dict

class DataHelper:
    """Common data processing patterns for production deployment."""
    
    def __init__(self, config_path: str | Path):
        self.config_path = Path(config_path)
        self.config = self._load_config()
    
    def _load_confi…
15 0 Open

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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.