[#]: subject: (3 Python 3.2 features that are still relevant today)
[#]: via: (https://opensource.com/article/21/5/python-32)
[#]: author: (Moshe Zadka https://opensource.com/users/moshez)
[#]: collector: (lujun9972)
[#]: translator: (geekpi)
[#]: reviewer: ( )
[#]: publisher: ( )
[#]: url: ( )

3 Python 3.2 features that are still relevant today
======
Explore some of the underutilized but still useful Python features.
![Business woman on laptop sitting in front of window][1]

This the third article in a series about features that first appeared in a version of Python 3.x. Some of those Python versions have been out for a while. For example, Python 3.2 was first released in 2011, yet some of the cool and useful features introduced in it are still underused. Here are three of them.

### argparse subcommands

The `argparse` module first appeared in Python 3.2. There are many third-party modules for command-line parsing. But the built-in `argparse` module is more powerful than many give it credit for.

Documenting all the ins and outs of `argparse` would take its own article series. For a small taste, here is an example of how you can do subcommands with `argparse`.

Imagine a command with two subcommands: `negate`, which takes one argument, and `multiply` which takes two:


```
$ computebot negate 5
-5
$ computebot multiply 2 3
6

[/code] [code]

import argparse

parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
subparsers = parser.add_subparsers()
```

The `add_subparsers()` methods creates an object that you can add subcommands to. The only trick to remember is that you need to add what subcommand was called through a `set_defaults()`:


```
negate  = subparsers.add_parser("negate")
negate.set_defaults(subcommand="negate")
negate.add_argument("number", type=float)

[/code] [code]

multiply  = subparsers.add_parser("multiply")
multiply.set_defaults(subcommand="multiply")
multiply.add_argument("number1", type=float)
multiply.add_argument("number2", type=float)
```

One of my favorite `argparse` features is that, because it separates parsing from running, testing the parsing logic is particularly pleasant.


```
`parser.parse_args(["negate", "5"])`[/code] [code]`    Namespace(number=5.0, subcommand='negate')`[/code] [code]`parser.parse_args(["multiply", "2", "3"])`[/code] [code]`    Namespace(number1=2.0, number2=3.0, subcommand='multiply')`
```

### contextlib.contextmanager

Contexts are a powerful tool in Python. While many _use_ them, writing a new context often seems like a dark art. With the `contextmanager` decorator, all you need is a one-shot generator.

Writing a context that prints out the time it took to do something is as simple as:


```
import contextlib, timeit

@contextlib.contextmanager
def timer():
    before = timeit.default_timer()
    try:
        yield
    finally:
        after = timeit.default_timer()
        print("took", after - before)
```

And you can use it with just:


```
import time

with timer():
    time.sleep(10.5)

[/code] [code]`    took 10.511025413870811`
```

### functools.lru_cache

Sometimes the caching results from a function in memory make sense. For example, imagine the classical problem: "How many ways can you make change for a dollar with quarters, dimes, nickels, and cents?"

The code for this can be deceptively simple:


```
def change_for_a_dollar():
    def change_for(amount, coins):
        if amount == 0:
            return 1
        if amount < 0 or len(coins) == 0:
            return 0
        some_coin = next(iter(coins))
        return (
            change_for(amount, coins - set([some_coin]))
            +
            change_for(amount - some_coin, coins)
        )
    return change_for(100, frozenset([25, 10, 5, 1]))
```

On my computer, this takes around 13ms:


```
with timer():
    change_for_a_dollar()

[/code] [code]`    took 0.013737603090703487`
```

It turns out that when you calculate how many ways you can do something like making change from 50 cents, you use the same coins repeatedly. You can use `lru_cache` to avoid recalculating this over and over.


```
import functools

def change_for_a_dollar():
    @functools.lru_cache
    def change_for(amount, coins):
        if amount == 0:
            return 1
        if amount < 0 or len(coins) == 0:
            return 0
        some_coin = next(iter(coins))
        return (
            change_for(amount, coins - set([some_coin]))
            +
            change_for(amount - some_coin, coins)
        )
    return change_for(100, frozenset([25, 10, 5, 1]))

[/code] [code]

with timer():
    change_for_a_dollar()

[/code] [code]`    took 0.004180959425866604`
```

A three-fold improvement for the cost of one line. Not bad.

### Welcome to 2011

Although Python 3.2 was released 10 years ago, many of its features are still cool—and underused. Add them to your toolkit if you haven't already.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

via: https://opensource.com/article/21/5/python-32

作者：[Moshe Zadka][a]
选题：[lujun9972][b]
译者：[译者ID](https://github.com/译者ID)
校对：[校对者ID](https://github.com/校对者ID)

本文由 [LCTT](https://github.com/LCTT/TranslateProject) 原创编译，[Linux中国](https://linux.cn/) 荣誉推出

[a]: https://opensource.com/users/moshez
[b]: https://github.com/lujun9972
[1]: https://opensource.com/sites/default/files/styles/image-full-size/public/lead-images/lenovo-thinkpad-laptop-concentration-focus-windows-office.png?itok=-8E2ihcF (Woman using laptop concentrating)