Few Python programming problems

Python is a high level programming language that has in built data structures and dynamic semantics. It is a preferred language for Rapid Application Development as well as a glue language for connecting existing services or components. Needless to say, Python is an impressive language but it has its own sets of problems that might lead the programmers to bugs and poor performance. On the other hand, developers are human beings as well and to err is human. There are certain common mistakes that Python programmers commit while coding software. However, if you are aware of these common problems, then it might help you to avoid falling into the trap when coding with Python.

Use of wrong indentation

There are several Python features that are dependent on indentation. For instance, if a developer is creating a new class then everything in there will be indented under the class declaration. Similar rule applies to loop, decision and other structural statements. In case you find that a code is executing a task that it should not be doing, then it is time to review the indentation that you have used.

Data and Markup Mixed
This is another common mistake committed by the programmers. If you mix up markup and data then it leads to a number of problems and finally to unmanageable codes. It might happen that you have data in a string and this string will have a particular format. If the format is in prosaic text, you would want to preserve the newlines and at the same time collapse the whitespace into a single space. The problem is the data appearing on a website is in HTML format. Generally it is suggested to escape the input text and convert the newlines to simply. This is a wrong approach. One of the main reasons why this is wrong is due to the context. Owing to the API concept web applications are growing more complicated nowadays. Thus, there are other forms, like, JSON in which the web functionalities are also available. So the best way to be on the safe side is to store data as it arrives instead of flipping it.

Choosing assignment operator
There are many developers who rely on the assignment operator while performing comparison between two values or objects. The problem is that the assignment operator simply places the value or an object within a variable. It, however, does not perform any kind of comparison.

Problem with choosing the framework
It often happens that more than the desired time is spent on choosing framework. When you have a small application, there are no problems with framework. Even if there are more codes switching systems is no difficulty when need arises. On the contrary if you want to switch a core component like the ORM, it is conveniently achievable. This process was more difficult when the systems were incompatible. But now choosing the right framework is quite an easy job. Hence, there is no point in spending much time over its choice.

Monolithic systems have no value
In this world of agility, building monolithic systems make no sense at all. The web developers have good advantage as they can work with HTTP. You can write small services with HTTP and combine them together with another application. You can also choose to use the load balancer between the individual components. In case you do not have the Python library required for the job, you can also make use of Java or Ruby for writing a part of the System. However, it is important that the programmers do not use 8 different languages and with various runtime environments. This would completely jeopardize the life of the system administrator.

Count by one errors
This is created on the loops. What a developer needs to keep in mind is that a loop will not count the last number that is specified in a range.

Spelling errors
Now, this is really unfortunate. Even some of the most experienced developers commit this error. It is better that they adopt a common approach for naming functions, variables and classes. All it requires is to be a little careful while typing the naming schemes.

If you are interested in working with Python, it is imperative to program it without any errors. The above mentioned points will help you to avoid some of the most common mistakes in Python programming.

You can hire developers from top custom python development company in India who can help you build products within allocated budgets and time schedules.

We provide python development services. If you would like to hire python development experts from our team, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.

Moving from Python 2.7 to 3- Some pros & cons

It has been quite some time that Python 3 has been introduced in the software community, but due to some technical glitches, it was not widely accepted. Earlier, it did not have the basic Python libraries like SciPy and NumPy but now they have been imported. In fact, it is an incremental release and that is why the casual programmers may not have many new features to use. But it has now ironed out the glitches as well as quirks which were there in the earlier versions, making the syntax consistent. So before moving to version 3, here are some pros and cons to know about.

Pros

Using compatible syntax- There are many common features between versions 2.7 and 3 due to backporting which essentially allows you to use them in the old scripts, subsequently making the transition very easy. Like % operator that works in version 3; only the format method is different, and that gives increased flexibility.

Unicode support- The version’s text model has been revised which makes the primary string type totally Unicode-capable. Thus the models used in Unicode-capable Windows APIs, JVM, .NET CLR, etc. and Python 3 are brought closer. Its interpreter core is more tolerant to paths containing Unicode characters, which leads to less chances of problems when running scripts on Windows from home directory if, for example, the user name has non-ASCII characters. In fact, the support is more deeply embedded in the language itself. Since a huge variety of Unicode characters are now allowed, developers can use other languages, apart from English when naming; they do not have to use names which suit the fixed character set.

Set literals- Sets in the version have new literal syntax. {1, 2, 3} can be written instead of the set([1, 2, 3)]; the former is quite clean. In fact, both work perfectly, but using the new one gives less problems.

Abstract base classes- Support to make abstract base classes is contained by abc module; in it a property or method may be marked as “abstract” on base classes and implemented in subclasses. This is for definition of interfaces with the creation of classes which has no concrete method(s). One example of the concept is the mathematical class hierarchy.

Cons

Using ported libraries- The pure libraries may be converted semi-automatically to Python 3 but those depending on C extensions are really hard to port. Many libraries have been already ported, but there are some which have not been ported yet. However, this may not be of much problem if the project is small.However, in case of large scale projects this might pose a problem.

Differences in builtin functions- All functions of the previous version are not compatible or rather related to the Python 3 counterparts. Like when you use filter function, an iterator is returned in version 3 but the previous versions return a list. The same is applicable for .keys method.

Filesystem access- It is assumed by the software that all the filesystems have encoding, but then as a matter of fact, there is no encoding in many Linux systems as well as OS X. In fact, different rules for Unicode normalization are applied for filesystem on OS X than for applications. So the filename has to be normalized manually to separate encoding when filenames have to be compared in file system.

Beginners in the world of programming can benefit if they learn Python 3, especially if they do not know C. All in all, there is no huge difference between the implementation of Python 2.7 and 3. In fact, the usage of version 3 seems to be a complicated procedure for many, especially if the project is a big one and there is less time for unit testing. When unit testing is conducted the ultimate code turns out to be well tested as well as reproducable. Porting to Python 3 will yield in plenty of minor and innocent changes, but this will make it more dangerous, making it necessary to test particular and individual functions in the scripts. This will ultimately lead to profit in the long run, but you will have to waste some of your precious time which could have been devoted in bettering the application and other such things.

You can hire programmers from top custom python development company who can help you build products within allocated budgets and time schedules.

We provide python development services. If you would like to hire python developers from our team, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.

Why Software development in Python?

At present there are a host of languages which can be used for building a nice and robust website. When planning to build a website one is spoilt for choices which at times can be confusing too. Which one to use and which one not to use? All languages have their own inherent strengths and weaknesses. If you have a clear idea as to what application you want to build and what your needs are you can choose effectively? 

Still having said all this there is one language which can fairly meet all your expectations and you can use it without spending much time in doing a cost-benefit analysis. That language is Python. I have listed below the reasons why I think Python is so good. At Mindfire we have been working in Python for more than 5 years and based on our experience and dealing with clients I can safely say that Python is the one for you. The offshore Python development team at Mindfire is one of the best in the country.

The strengths it has are: 

Object-Oriented Programming

Every structure in Python is designed to be OO just like it is in Smalltalk. So you don’t have to do it yourself. OO features like Inheritance and Polymorphism are already implement in Python.

Fast to Learn

Since the source code resembles pseudo code, it s very easy to learn Python. This is a big advantage if you are building the website on your own or setting up a team to build a website for you.

Fast to Code

With its host of features – coding in Python is comparatively easier and faster than other languages.

Readability 

Python’s syntax is clear and readable and since it imposes some order for programming, the code turns out properly indented and easy to read.  The code is nice and clear, which makes it very easy to read and maintain.

Easy to get support

Since the Python community is large and active – it is very easy to get support whenever you are stuck in any issue. The community is very co-operative and helpful.

Reusability

The Standard Python library, which is part of Python distribution, has a lot of pre developed modules. One can break a program into modules and reuse the ones already developed. This saves time and effort, which in turn helps make website live date earlier.

Portability

Since it is written in portable ANSI C, it is not attached to any specific operational system. This makes it easy to deploy it in different systems thus increasing the portability.

To know more about our expertise in python development and to hire pyhton developers, please contact us at sales at mindfiresolutions dot com or call 1-248-686-1424. We will be glad to help you.

Python Development Services Picks Up Steam

At Mindfire we have one of the best Python development team in India and our knowledge and experience enable our clients to get a high quality application developed within a short time and at a fraction of the cost of developing it locally. Python developers at Mindfire have knowledge in a variety of frameworks. We have expertise in frameworks like Django, Pinax, Zope and web2py and have done quite a number of projects in each of these frameworks.

Recently we worked in a project which was developed in Pinax. A small summary of the project and the work that we did is as given below: 

Executive Summary

Client wanted to create a world class social networking and collaboration platform for a highly technical group of users. A key feature that client wanted was a quick and easy way for the user to create and add search content.

We decided and proposed using Pinax which provides an integrated collection of Django applications that provide the most commonly needed social networking features. We also proposed highlighting of relevant content as the user types and creation of dynamic tags. 

Our Solution

We designed and implemented a Python Django based application that makes the tagging process automatic. Whenever a user posts either a blog or question or event, the content gets tagged automatically. We used OpenCalais API to get the tags from the content that the user enters. We also used Django Supertagging App to make all content tagging processes automatic. This included implementing inline highlighting of content as user types in the content. Along with Autotagging we also allowed users to enter their own tags to make the app as flexible and user friendly as possible. We used heavy Ajax implementation and used caching to avoid repeated calls to the OpenCalais API. Once the module was ready we integrated the code with design templates provided by the client.

Technologies Used

Python, Django, Pinax, niginx front end, apache backend, MySql, GIT, OpenCalais REST API for tagging.

The client was pleased with Mindfire’s effort and reckoned that they were happy to have discovered a professional offshore IT unit. We shall continue to be the service provider for the next versions of the client’s product. They have not only allocated the support and maintenance work of the current system to Mindfire but have also chosen us for future customization work.

At Mindfire we challenge ourselves regularly to keep learning and stay abreast of all the latest happenings in Python area. Be it a new framework or a new tool or a new way of application development, we learn aggressively and are always ready to take up new and challenging work. This zeal for learning and increasing our knowledge base translates to very good work for clients, that is why we our clients keep coming back to us again and again. Python developers at Mindfire are very professional and ensure that we always make high quality delivery and on time.

To know more about our expertise in python development and to hire pyhton developers, please contact us at sales at mindfiresolutions dot com or call 1-248-686-1424. We will be glad to help you.

Offshore Python Development

Whenever any of the past clients think of offshore Python development, Mindfire is the only company they turn to. The Python development team at Mindfire is one of the best in India and our knowledge and experience enable of clients to get a high quality application developed within a short time and at a fraction of the cost of developing it locally.

The experts in the Python development team at Mindfire have knowledge in a variety of frameworks. Expertise in frameworks like Django, Pinax, Zope and web2py makes us good enough to take up any type of work. This knowledge also helps our clients in getting their application done in the framework that best suits their need. Since we have the know-how on different types of frameworks we pass on our suggestions to clients in the requirements gathering phase itself. Timely decision helps save time in the long run by reducing rework.

In addition to knowledge on different frameworks, Python developers at Mindfire have very good exposure to building and deploying applications on different types of servers. We have developed applications for Linux, Apache, nginx and GAE to name a few. This expertise comes with a strong desire and passion for learning and with experience in working in these areas. Python development team at Mindfire focuses a lot in learning new areas and things about Python and using that knowledge in building better quality applications for our clients.

To build smarter applications not only knowledge on framework and server is required but also a good knowledge on different tools available is required. Smarter tools enable the developer to get the same job done in a quicker time and this time saved is added revenue for our clients. Celery, Tastypie, Pylint and Fabric are some of the good tools that the Python development team at Mindfire uses. Because of all this, i.e good and thorough knowledge on different frameworks, different servers and good tools our development time is very less and the application developed is of the highest quality. Till date we have never lost a client or had a client complain about the work deliverables and we have had many clients come back to us regularly whenever they have work in Python to be done.

This clearly shows the trust clients have in the Python experts India team at Mindfire. Unlike other companies we don’t just provide coding services. Because of our experience and expertise we add value to the application by contributing in improving the design specification given by client and during the development phase by saving on time. Most clients appreciate the fact that we don’t just blindly do coding as per the suggestion given by them – what they like and respect about us is the professionalism we show both while giving suggestions and while implementing them. We take care that we do not go overboard and cause interference in the development process – rather we work collaboratively with our clients to deliver the best application possible.

To know more about our expertise in python development and to hire pyhton developers, please contact us at sales at mindfiresolutions dot com or call 1-248-686-1424. We will be glad to help you.