Python Styling Guide
Most languages can be written (or more concise, formatted) in different styles; some are more readable than others. Making it easy for others to read your code is always a good idea, and adopting a nice coding style helps tremendously for that. For Python, PEP 8 has emerged as the style guide that most projects adhere to; it promotes a very readable and eye-pleasing coding style. Here are the most important points extracted from my reading:
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Use 4-space indentation, and no tabs.
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4 spaces are a good compromise between small indentation (allows greater nesting depth) and large indentation (easier to read). Tabs introduce confusion, and are best left out.
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Wrap lines so that they don’t exceed 79 characters. This helps users with small displays and makes it possible to have several code files side-by-side on larger displays.
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Use blank lines to separate functions and classes, and larger blocks of code inside functions.
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When possible, put comments on a line of their own.
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Use docstrings.
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Use spaces around operators and after commas, but not directly inside bracketing constructs: a = f(1, 2) + g(3, 4).
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Name your classes and functions consistently; the convention is to use UpperCamelCase for classes and lowercase_with_underscores for functions and methods. Always use self as the name for the first method argument.
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Don’t use fancy encodings if your code is meant to be used in international environments. Python’s default, UTF-8, or even plain ASCII work best in any case. Likewise, don’t use non-ASCII characters in identifiers if there is only the slightest chance people speaking a different language will read or maintain the code.