Functions & basics
Reusable building blocks — parameters, returns, scope, and clear function design.
Benchmark list append vs comprehension in Python
This micro-benchmark compares the speed of building a list with a for loop and append versus a list comprehension, using the timeit module to get precise timings.
import timeit
# Build a list of the first 1,000,000 integers using append in a loop
def append_loop(n=1_000_000):
result = []
for i in range(n):
result.append(i)
return result
# Build the same list using a list comprehension
def comprehension(n=1_000_000):
return [i for i in range(n)]
if __n…
How to Build a Simple Decorator That Logs Function Calls in Python
This code shows how to create a reusable decorator that logs each function call, including arguments, return value, and execution time.
import functools
import time
def log_calls(func):
@functools.wraps(func)
def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
print(f"Calling {func.__name__} with args={args}, kwargs={kwargs}")
start = time.time()
result = func(*args, **kwargs)
end = time.time()
print(f"{func.__name__} return…
How to Create a Timing Decorator in Python
A Python decorator that measures and prints the execution time of any function using time.perf_counter.
import time
from functools import wraps
def timing_decorator(func):
@wraps(func)
def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
start = time.perf_counter()
result = func(*args, **kwargs)
end = time.perf_counter()
elapsed = end - start
print(f"{func.__name__} took {elapsed:.6f} seconds"…
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Functions & basics — Python code examples
What you will find here
This page collects functions & basics snippets — short, copy-ready Python you can paste into our free online IDE and run without installing anything. Each sample includes a plain-English explanation and the full source code.
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.