What's the use of which?
Okay, here is something where it proved useful last night:
In a given vector of values what is the index of the 3rd non-NA value?
> x <- c(1,NA,2,NA,3)
> which(!is.na(x))[3]
[1] 5
A little different from DWin's use, although I'd say his is compelling too!
What does if __name__ == __main__ : do?
Short Answer
It's boilerplate code that protects users from accidentally invoking the script when they didn't intend to. Here are some common problems when the guard is omitted from a script:
If you import the guardless script in another script (e.g.
import my_script_without_a_name_eq_main_guard
), then the latter script will trigger the former to run at import time and using the second script's command line arguments. This is almost always a mistake.If you have a custom class in the guardless script and save it to a pickle file, then unpickling it in another script will trigger an import of the guardless script, with the same problems outlined in the previous bullet.
Long Answer
To better understand why and how this matters, we need to take a step back to understand how Python initializes scripts and how this interacts with its module import mechanism.
Whenever the Python interpreter reads a source file, it does two things:
it sets a few special variables like
__name__
, and thenit executes all of the code found in the file.
Let's see how this works and how it relates to your question about the __name__
checks we always see in Python scripts.
Code Sample
Let's use a slightly different code sample to explore how imports and scripts work. Suppose the following is in a file called foo.py
.
# Suppose this is foo.py.
print("before import")
import math
print("before function_a")
def function_a():
print("Function A")
print("before function_b")
def function_b():
print("Function B {}".format(math.sqrt(100)))
print("before __name__ guard")
if __name__ == '__main__':
function_a()
function_b()
print("after __name__ guard")
Special Variables
When the Python interpreter reads a source file, it first defines a few special variables. In this case, we care about the __name__
variable.
When Your Module Is the Main Program
If you are running your module (the source file) as the main program, e.g.
python foo.py
the interpreter will assign the hard-coded string "__main__"
to the __name__
variable, i.e.
# It's as if the interpreter inserts this at the top
# of your module when run as the main program.
__name__ = "__main__"
When Your Module Is Imported By Another
On the other hand, suppose some other module is the main program and it imports your module. This means there's a statement like this in the main program, or in some other module the main program imports:
# Suppose this is in some other main program.
import foo
The interpreter will search for your foo.py
file (along with searching for a few other variants), and prior to executing that module, it will assign the name "foo"
from the import statement to the __name__
variable, i.e.
# It's as if the interpreter inserts this at the top
# of your module when it's imported from another module.
__name__ = "foo"
Executing the Module's Code
After the special variables are set up, the interpreter executes all the code in the module, one statement at a time. You may want to open another window on the side with the code sample so you can follow along with this explanation.
Always
It prints the string
"before import"
(without quotes).It loads the
math
module and assigns it to a variable calledmath
. This is equivalent to replacingimport math
with the following (note that__import__
is a low-level function in Python that takes a string and triggers the actual import):
# Find and load a module given its string name, "math",
# then assign it to a local variable called math.
math = __import__("math")
It prints the string
"before function_a"
.It executes the
def
block, creating a function object, then assigning that function object to a variable calledfunction_a
.It prints the string
"before function_b"
.It executes the second
def
block, creating another function object, then assigning it to a variable calledfunction_b
.It prints the string
"before __name__ guard"
.
Only When Your Module Is the Main Program
- If your module is the main program, then it will see that
__name__
was indeed set to"__main__"
and it calls the two functions, printing the strings"Function A"
and"Function B 10.0"
.
Only When Your Module Is Imported by Another
- (instead) If your module is not the main program but was imported by another one, then
__name__
will be"foo"
, not"__main__"
, and it'll skip the body of theif
statement.
Always
- It will print the string
"after __name__ guard"
in both situations.
Summary
In summary, here's what'd be printed in the two cases:
# What gets printed if foo is the main program
before import
before function_a
before function_b
before __name__ guard
Function A
Function B 10.0
after __name__ guard
# What gets printed if foo is imported as a regular module
before import
before function_a
before function_b
before __name__ guard
after __name__ guard
Why Does It Work This Way?
You might naturally wonder why anybody would want this. Well, sometimes you want to write a .py
file that can be both used by other programs and/or modules as a module, and can also be run as the main program itself. Examples:
Your module is a library, but you want to have a script mode where it runs some unit tests or a demo.
Your module is only used as a main program, but it has some unit tests, and the testing framework works by importing
.py
files like your script and running special test functions. You don't want it to try running the script just because it's importing the module.Your module is mostly used as a main program, but it also provides a programmer-friendly API for advanced users.
Beyond those examples, it's elegant that running a script in Python is just setting up a few magic variables and importing the script. "Running" the script is a side effect of importing the script's module.
Food for Thought
Question: Can I have multiple
__name__
checking blocks? Answer: it's strange to do so, but the language won't stop you.Suppose the following is in
foo2.py
. What happens if you saypython foo2.py
on the command-line? Why?
# Suppose this is foo2.py.
import os, sys; sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(__file__)) # needed for some interpreters
def function_a():
print("a1")
from foo2 import function_b
print("a2")
function_b()
print("a3")
def function_b():
print("b")
print("t1")
if __name__ == "__main__":
print("m1")
function_a()
print("m2")
print("t2")
- Now, figure out what will happen if you remove the
__name__
check infoo3.py
:
# Suppose this is foo3.py.
import os, sys; sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(__file__)) # needed for some interpreters
def function_a():
print("a1")
from foo3 import function_b
print("a2")
function_b()
print("a3")
def function_b():
print("b")
print("t1")
print("m1")
function_a()
print("m2")
print("t2")
- What will this do when used as a script? When imported as a module?
# Suppose this is in foo4.py
__name__ = "__main__"
def bar():
print("bar")
print("before __name__ guard")
if __name__ == "__main__":
bar()
print("after __name__ guard")
What are express.json() and express.urlencoded()?
The json
and urlencoded
middleware are both part of bodyParser. This is what the README says:
bodyParser([options])
Returns middleware that parses both
json
andurlencoded
. Theoptions
are passed to both middleware.bodyParser.json([options])
Returns middleware that only parses
json
. The options are:
strict
- only parse objects and arrayslimit
<1mb> - maximum request body sizereviver
- passed toJSON.parse()
bodyParser.urlencoded([options])
Returns middleware that only parses
urlencoded
with the qs module. The options are:
limit
<1mb> - maximum request body size
What is TypeScript and why would I use it in place of JavaScript?
I originally wrote this answer when TypeScript was still
hot-off-the-presses. Five years later, this is an OK overview, but look
at Lodewijk's answer below for more depth
1000ft view...
TypeScript is a superset of JavaScript which primarily provides optional static typing, classes and interfaces. One of the big benefits is to enable IDEs to provide a richer environment for spotting common errors as you type the code.
To get an idea of what I mean, watch Microsoft's introductory video on the language.
For a large JavaScript project, adopting TypeScript might result in more robust software, while still being deployable where a regular JavaScript application would run.
It is open source, but you only get the clever Intellisense as you type if you use a supported IDE. Initially, this was only Microsoft's Visual Studio (also noted in blog post from Miguel de Icaza). These days, other IDEs offer TypeScript support too.
Are there other technologies like it?
There's CoffeeScript, but that really serves a different purpose. IMHO, CoffeeScript provides readability for humans, but TypeScript also provides deep readability for tools through its optional static typing (see this recent blog post for a little more critique). There's also Dart but that's a full on replacement for JavaScript (though it can produce JavaScript code)
Example
As an example, here's some TypeScript (you can play with this in the TypeScript Playground)
class Greeter {
greeting: string;
constructor (message: string) {
this.greeting = message;
}
greet() {
return "Hello, " + this.greeting;
}
}
And here's the JavaScript it would produce
var Greeter = (function () {
function Greeter(message) {
this.greeting = message;
}
Greeter.prototype.greet = function () {
return "Hello, " + this.greeting;
};
return Greeter;
})();
Notice how the TypeScript defines the type of member variables and class method parameters. This is removed when translating to JavaScript, but used by the IDE and compiler to spot errors, like passing a numeric type to the constructor.
It's also capable of inferring types which aren't explicitly declared, for example, it would determine the greet()
method returns a string.
Debugging TypeScript
Many browsers and IDEs offer direct debugging support through sourcemaps. See this Stack Overflow question for more details: Debugging TypeScript code with Visual Studio
Want to know more?
I originally wrote this answer when TypeScript was still hot-off-the-presses. Check out Lodewijk's answer to this question for some more current detail.
What is the use of verbose in Keras while validating the model?
Check documentation for model.fit here.
By setting verbose 0, 1 or 2 you just say how do you want to 'see' the training progress for each epoch.
verbose=0
will show you nothing (silent)
verbose=1
will show you an animated progress bar like this:
verbose=2
will just mention the number of epoch like this:
What is the use of the JavaScript 'bind' method?
Bind creates a new function that will force the this
inside the function to be the parameter passed to bind()
.
Here's an example that shows how to use bind
to pass a member method around that has the correct this
:
var myButton = {
content: 'OK',
click() {
console.log(this.content + ' clicked');
}
};
myButton.click();
var looseClick = myButton.click;
looseClick(); // not bound, 'this' is not myButton - it is the globalThis
var boundClick = myButton.click.bind(myButton);
boundClick(); // bound, 'this' is myButton
Which prints out:
OK clicked
undefined clicked
OK clicked
You can also add extra parameters after the 1st (this
) parameter and bind
will pass in those values to the original function. Any additional parameters you later pass to the bound function will be passed in after the bound parameters:
// Example showing binding some parameters
var sum = function(a, b) {
return a + b;
};
var add5 = sum.bind(null, 5);
console.log(add5(10));
Which prints out:
15
Check out JavaScript Function bind for more info and interactive examples.
Update: ECMAScript 2015 adds support for =>
functions. =>
functions are more compact and do not change the this
pointer from their defining scope, so you may not need to use bind()
as often. For example, if you wanted a function on Button
from the first example to hook up the click
callback to a DOM event, the following are all valid ways of doing that:
var myButton = {
... // As above
hookEvent(element) {
// Use bind() to ensure 'this' is the 'this' inside click()
element.addEventListener('click', this.click.bind(this));
}
};
Or:
var myButton = {
... // As above
hookEvent(element) {
// Use a new variable for 'this' since 'this' inside the function
// will not be the 'this' inside hookEvent()
var me = this;
element.addEventListener('click', function() { me.click() });
}
};
Or:
var myButton = {
... // As above
hookEvent(element) {
// => functions do not change 'this', so you can use it directly
element.addEventListener('click', () => this.click());
}
};
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