Python Backend Developer Roadmap 3 -Advanced Python: List comprehensions, lambda functions, decorators, and generators

Elshad Karimov
2 min readApr 16, 2023

Mastering advanced Python concepts can help you write more efficient, elegant, and powerful code as a backend developer. In this post, we’ll dive into some key advanced concepts, providing examples and details to expand your Python expertise.

3.1 List Comprehensions List comprehensions allow you to create lists with concise, readable code.

# Basic loop for creating a list of squares
squares = []
for x in range(1, 6):
squares.append(x ** 2)

# List comprehension equivalent
squares = [x ** 2 for x in range(1, 6)]

# With a conditional
even_squares = [x ** 2 for x in range(1, 6) if x % 2 == 0]

3.2 Lambda Functions Lambda functions are small, anonymous functions that can be used in a concise way, often as arguments for other functions.

# Regular function for adding two numbers
def add(x, y):
return x + y

# Lambda function equivalent
add = lambda x, y: x + y

# Using lambda with built-in functions
numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
squared_numbers = list(map(lambda x: x ** 2, numbers))

3.3 Decorators Decorators are a way to modify or extend the behavior of functions or classes without changing their code.

# Define a decorator
def uppercase_decorator(func):
def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
result = func(*args, **kwargs)
return result.upper()
return wrapper

# Apply decorator to a function
@uppercase_decorator
def greet(name):
return f"Hello, {name}!"

# Function call
print(greet("John")) # Output: "HELLO, JOHN!"

3.4 Generators Generators allow you to create iterators that yield values one at a time using the yield keyword, making them more memory-efficient for large data sets.

# Define a generator function
def count_up_to(max):
count = 1
while count <= max:
yield count
count += 1

# Use the generator
counter = count_up_to(5)
for number in counter:
print(number)

3.5 Context Managers Context managers simplify resource management, such as file handling or database connections, using the with keyword.

# Without context manager
file = open("file.txt", "r")
content = file.read()
file.close()

# With context manager
with open("file.txt", "r") as file:
content = file.read()

3.5 Context Managers Context managers simplify resource management, such as file handling or database connections, using the with keyword.

# Without context manager
file = open("file.txt", "r")
content = file.read()
file.close()

# With context manager
with open("file.txt", "r") as file:
content = file.read()

By mastering these advanced Python concepts, you’ll be better equipped to tackle more complex backend development tasks. Keep practicing these concepts and applying them in your projects to reinforce your learning and gain real-world experience.

#Python #BackendDevelopment #AdvancedPython #CareerDevelopment

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Elshad Karimov

Software Engineer, Udemy Instructor and Book Author, Founder at AppMillers