As a refresher, syntax describes sentence structure—how words are arranged grammatically and what parts of speech they use.

Python, for all its power and popularity, has long lacked a form of flow control found in other languages—a way to take a value and match it elegantly against one of a number of possible conditions.

Whenever an activity occurs in repetition, such as programming, patterns emerge and can be documented. The benefits of documenting and using software design patterns are well established, as are some ...