Summary

In this chapter, we have explored the main features of Python, with the goal of understanding its most distinctive features, those that make Python a peculiar language compared to the rest. Along this path, we have explored different methods of Python, protocols, and their internal mechanics.

As opposed to the previous chapter, this one is more Python-focused. A key takeaway of the topics of this book is that clean code goes beyond following the formatting rules (which, of course, are essential to a good code base). They are a necessary condition, but not sufficient. Over the next few chapters, we will see ideas and principles that relate more to the code, with the goal of achieving a better design and implementation of our software solution.

With the concepts and the ideas of this chapter, we explored the core of Python: its protocols and magic methods. It should be clear by now that the best way of having Pythonic, idiomatic code is not only by following the formatting conventions, but also by taking full advantage of all the features Python has to offer. This means that you can write more maintainable code by using a particular magic method, a context manager, or writing more concise statements by using comprehensions and assignment expressions.

We also got acquainted with asynchronous programming, and now we should feel comfortable reading asynchronous code in Python. This is important because asynchronous programming is becoming increasingly popular, and it'll be useful for future topics, explored later in the book.

In the next chapter, we will put these concepts into action, relating general concepts of software engineering with the way they can be written in Python.