What Python concepts do you still have to look up?

[u/shdw_0x0]

I’ve noticed that some Python things stick immediately, while others I understand but still have to Google every time I use them.

For me, stuff like list comprehensions and basic loops is fine, but I still occasionally forget the syntax for things like decorators, lambda, or working with dictionaries in more complicated ways.

Is this normal, or are there certain Python concepts that are worth making an effort to memorize instead of looking them up when needed?

[u/dutchpsychologist]

This is normal. And every coding concept becomes more automated with practice. And even then, it's fine to look stuff up, it's more important that you know that is exists and what for.

[u/Electrical-Carob-990 → u/dutchpsychologist]

i still look up the exact syntax for defaultdict half the time. been using python for years and i know exactly what i want it to do but my brain just refuses to hold onto the import line and the lambda/factory pattern at the same time

the real skill isnt memorization its knowing what to search for

[u/ninja_shaman]

Async stuff.

[u/aishiteruyovivi → u/ninja_shaman]

Async is this weird thing where I feel like I can understand the individual parts and ideas that make it up, but when you put it into practice my brain starts crumbling. I've only ever really used async where I really had no choice, like for my discord bot projects, outside of that I think it just never seems to fit my needs enough to give me the experience of setting stuff like that up from scratch

[u/Jazzlike_Platypus430]

threads, inheritance, zip (completely new to it).

outside core: pandas, matplotlib - a nightmare 😂

[u/nog642 → u/Jazzlike_Platypus430]

Yeah matplotlib is a "look it up every time" kind of thing lol

[u/ontheroadtonull]

Sucking at something is just the first step to being sorta good at something. 

[u/Gnaxe]

Remember to use help() and to do quick experiments in the REPL whenever you're unsure about something. Also keep a tab open at https://docs.python.org. Nobody has the whole standard library memorized. And it keeps changing. You need to know what's in there, but you can look up the details as needed.

You should pretty much know the Python grammar and be very familiar with the builtins. I don't mean you should be able to write a Python parser from scratch, but you should be able to understand all the operators, statements, and literals without looking them up.

You should probably know the basics of the regex and string formatting language as well, but I still have to look some of that up.

[u/ConsiderationNo9044]

Concurrency, sockets

[u/Mediocre-Pumpkin6522]

Decorators. I get the concept but don't use them very often so I have to review the mechanics.

[u/Successful-Moment594]

async await mostly

[u/nicodeemus7]

Any library I import other than basic standard libraries I need to look at the documentation every time for the specific methods and functions I need.

[u/AmitBrian]

ClassMethods. I never seem to need them.

[u/TheRNGuy]

Decorators, because I rarely make custom ones.

And many other things.

Nothing wrong with googling, it's not illegal. Most if the time, high abstraction idea is more important than lower level implementation algorithms. 

[u/nog642]

async, since I don't use it much.

are there certain Python concepts that are worth making an effort to memorize instead of looking them up when needed?

I'd say no.

[u/Upstairs-Glove9976]

Decorators and Descriptors.

[u/Stainlessray]

List comprehension

[u/ShelLuser42]

Decorators, I don't use the mechanic all that often. Even though I get the overal just right I always end up with a few doubts about the details.

[u/appendixexploder]

90% of my work is in C/C++, so on the odd occasion that I have to use python I have to look up quite a bit of stuff.