In Python, you can define functions with optional arguments — that is, arguments that you don’t need to state explicitly afterwards — by providing a default value.

Take advantage of caching and the lru_cache decorator to relieve your Python functions from repetitive heavy lifting.

If you want to learn Python, a number of free or low-cost resources can help you get started.

In Python, the mere act of making a function call incurs a relatively large amount of overhead. If some function is called repeatedly in a tight loop, even if it isn’t a long-running function ...

This article is adapted from an edition of our Off the Charts newsletter originally published in October 2021. Off the Charts is a weekly, subscriber-only guide to The Economist’ s award-winning ...

How to Build a Windows Search Function in Python. If you happen to not like the default Windows search options then you can write your own Windows search function in Python by following a few steps.