Start Using These Python Functions Now

5 Python functions every programmer must know

Photo by James Harrison on Unsplash

Many beginners often find coding in Python to be complicated and time-consuming, when in reality, the language has an extremely simplified syntax compared to other programming languages. These beginners do not realize that the long segments of their code they wasted significant time on writing are usually replaceable with one-liners that perform faster and better. Even experienced and intermediate programmers miss out on many of Python’s built-in functions, costing them time and effort. To be successful in programming, an arsenal consisting of several of these functions is a necessity. Thus, here are 5 such functions every programmer should be using in their programs.

1. The eval() function

The eval() function is extremely useful due to its capability to evaluate any specified mathematical expression. This function can take in three parameters:

1. The mathematical expression to be evaluated, in the form of a string.
2. An optional parameter that takes in a dictionary that references global variables to eval(). For example, by referencing the character “x” to a global variable named “number”, you will be able to use “x” as a representation of the value assigned to “number” in the first…