Contents

Code style

Code formatting

We use the black code formatter with 79 character line limits. We also adopt the PEP8 style guide whenever possible (black does not enforce all PEP8 style recommendations, so please consult PEP8 if you’re unsure about something).

Comments

black does not modify comments. Please do the following:

  • Keep comments to 79 characters when possible

  • Add a space after the #

  • Capitalize the first letter of the first word in a comment, unless it refers to a lowercase object

DO NOT:

#this line is really long this line is really long this line is really long this line is really long this line is really long

DO:

# This line is really long this line is really long this line is really long
# this line is really long this line is really long

Functions

Do not create a variable which is only returned.

DO NOT:

def square(x):
    res = x * x
    return res

DO:

def square(x):
    return x * x

Data analysis

pandas

Use . notation to access columns.

DO NOT:

df["in_poverty"] = df["income"] < df["poverty_threshold"]

df["in_poverty"] = df.income < df.poverty_threshold