pep8

I found some old Python code that was doing something like: if type(var) is type(1): ... As expected, pep8 complains about this recommending usage of isinstance() . Now, the problem is that the numbers module was added in Python 2.6 and I need to write code that works with Python 2.5+ So if isinstance(var, Numbers.number) is not a solution. Which would be the proper solution in this case? In Python 2, you can use the types module : >>> import types >>> var = 1 >>> NumberTypes = (types.IntType, types.LongType, types.FloatType, types.ComplexType) >>> isinstance(var, NumberTypes) True Note the

Why in this millennium should Python PEP-8 specify a maximum line length of 79 characters? Pretty much every code editor under the sun can handle longer lines. What to do with wrapping should be the choice of the content consumer, not the responsibility of the content creator. Are there any (legitimately) good reasons for adhering to 79 characters in this age? Much of the value of PEP-8 is to stop people arguing about inconsequential formatting rules, and get on with writing good, consistently formatted code. Sure, no one really thinks that 79 is optimal, but there's no obvious gain in

A little background: PEP 8 is the Style Guide for Python Code . It contains the conventions all python programmers should follow. pep8.py is a (very useful) script that checks the code formating of a given python script, according to PEP 8. Eclipse is a great IDE. With the Pydev extension, it that can be used to develop Python I run pep8.py manually when I'm scripting, but with bigger projects I prefer to use Eclipse. It would be really useful to integrate pep8.py in Eclipse/Pydev, so it can be run automatically in all the files in the project, and point to the lines containing the warnings.

I know there are tools which validate whether your Python code is compliant with PEP8, for example there is both an online service and a python module . However, I cannot find a service or module which can convert my Python file to a self-contained, PEP8 valid Python file. Does anyone know if there are any? I assume it's feasible since PEP8 is all about the appearance of the code, right? Andy Hayden Unfortunately "pep8 storming" (the entire project) has several negative side-effects: lots of merge-conflicts break git blame make code review difficult As an alternative (and thanks to @y-p for

Just opened a file with Sublime Text (with Sublime Linter) and noticed a PEP8 formatting error that I'd never seen before. Here's the text: urlpatterns = patterns('', url(r'^$', listing, name='investment-listing'), ) It's flagging the second argument, the line that starts url(...) I was about to disable this check in ST2 but I'd like to know what I'm doing wrong before I ignore it. You never know, if it seems important I might even change my ways :) PEP-8 recommends you indent lines to the opening parentheses if you put anything on the first line, so it should either be indenting to the

At the end of python PEP8 I'm reading: Don't compare boolean values to True or False using == Yes: if greeting: No: if greeting == True: Worse: if greeting is True: I have no problem with that recommandation when the boolean is True , but it sounds strange when checking for False If I want to know if variable greeting is False why shouldn't I write: if greeting == False: If I write if not greeting: it will have a very different meaning that the above statement. What if greeting is None ? What if it is empty string ? Does this PEP8 recommandation means that variables storing boolean values