How to detect a valid integer literal
There are hundreds of questions on StackOverflow that all ask variations of the same thing. Paraphrasing:
lst is a list of strings and numbers. I want to convert the numbers to int but leave the strings alone.
Operator sectioning for Python
In Haskell, you can section infix operators. This is a simple form of partial evaluation. Using Python syntax, the following are equivalent:
(2*) lambda x: 2*x (*2) lambda x: x*2 (*) lambda x, y: x*y So, can we do the same in Python?
Grammar
The first form, (2*), is unambiguous.
If you don't like exceptions, you don't like Python
Many people—especially people coming from Java—think that using try/except is "inelegant", or "inefficient". Or, slightly less meaninglessly, they think that "exceptions should only be for errors, not for normal flow control".
These people are not going to be happy with Python.
Spam, spam, spam, gouda, spam, and tulips
If you look at Python tutorials and sample code, proposals for new language features, blogs like this one, talks at PyCon, etc., you'll see spam, eggs, gouda, etc. all over the place.
And now for something completely stupid…
Most control structures in most most programming languages, including Python, are subordinating conjunctions, like "if", "while", and "except", although "with" is a preposition, and "for" is a preposition used strangely (although not as strangely as in C…).
How not to overuse lambda
There are two ways that some Python programmers overuse lambda. Doing this almost always mkes your code less readable, and for no corresponding benefit.
1Why following idioms matters
Some languages have a very strong idiomatic style—in Python, Haskell, or Swift, the same code by two different programmers is likely to look a lot more similar than in Perl, Lisp, or C++.
There's an advantage to this—and, in particular, an advantage to you sticking to those idioms.
