PCPP1 Best Practices And Coding Conventions — 10 Questions

Question 1

According to PEP 257, what is the standard format for a single-line docstring?

Accepted Answer

Use triple quotes and keep the summary on the same line, ending with a period.. A single-line docstring should be on the same line as the opening triple quotes, ending with a period.

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Use a single quote for the entire block.

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The docstring should span three lines including the summary.

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The summary should start on the next line.

Question 2

When naming a constant in Python, which convention does PEP 8 recommend?

Accepted Answer

UPPER_CASE_WITH_UNDERSCORES.. Constants should be named using all capital letters with underscores to separate words.

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PascalCase.

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snake_case.

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CamelCase.

Question 3

Which practice is recommended when dealing with 'bare' except clauses in Python?

Accepted Answer

Always specify the exception type you intend to catch.. Bare 'except:' clauses catch SystemExit and KeyboardInterrupt, which can prevent the user from stopping a program.

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Use bare 'except:' for performance optimization.

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Use 'except Exception:' as the standard catch-all.

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Use 'except:' but log the error immediately.

Question 4

You are debugging a legacy application and need to ensure that resources like file handles are always closed. Which construct is preferred?

Accepted Answer

Use a context manager with the 'with' statement.. The 'with' statement (context manager) ensures that cleanup code is executed even if an exception occurs.

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Wrap the file operation in a try-except block.

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Manually call file.close() in a finally block.

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Rely on the garbage collector to close the handle.

Question 5

You are writing a library that expects a custom exception. Which practice aligns best with Python's exception handling hierarchy?

Accepted Answer

Inherit from Exception.. Custom exceptions should inherit from the built-in Exception class to ensure they are catchable by standard error handlers.

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Use a mixin class without inheritance.

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Inherit from StandardError.

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Inherit from BaseException.

Question 6

When implementing secure coding practices in a web-facing Python application, how should you handle raw user input to prevent command injection?

Accepted Answer

Pass input arguments as a list to subprocess.run(args, shell=False).. Using the 'subprocess' module with 'shell=False' (the default) prevents the shell from interpreting user-provided strings as commands.

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Pass the entire input string to os.system().

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Concatenate the input string into a shell command for execution.

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Sanitize input using a custom regex to remove special characters.

Question 7

When documenting a complex function, which approach is most compliant with Google Style Python Docstrings regarding parameter types?

Accepted Answer

Use the 'Args:' section followed by the parameter name, type, and description.. Google Style requires explicit listing of types in the Args section to improve readability for static analysis tools.

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Embed the types directly in the function name.

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Include type hints in the docstring but omit them from the function signature.

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Avoid documenting types to prevent redundancy with type hints.

Question 8

In a team environment, which PEP 8 guideline should be applied to maintain consistent indentation when mixing spaces and tabs?

Accepted Answer

Use spaces exclusively for indentation.. PEP 8 states that spaces are the preferred indentation method over tabs to ensure cross-platform consistency.

Answer

Use tabs exclusively, as they are more efficient for file size.

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Always use a combination of tabs and spaces to allow personal editor configuration.

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Default to the indentation used by the first author of the module.

Question 9

According to PEP 8, what is the maximum recommended length for a line of code?

Accepted Answer

79 characters.. PEP 8 suggests limiting lines to 79 characters to allow multiple files to be opened side-by-side.

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80 characters.

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No limit.

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120 characters.

Question 10

When designing a public API, how should you signal that a method is for internal use only?

Accepted Answer

By prepending a single underscore.. Prefixing a name with a single underscore is the conventional way to indicate internal use.

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By raising a warning if called externally.

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By adding a comment like '# INTERNAL'.

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By using all caps.

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By suffixing with an underscore.