Top 100 Python Interview Questions and Answers

1. What is Python?

Answer: Python is a high-level, interpreted programming language known for its readability and

versatility.

2. List some features of Python.

Answer: Easy to learn, interpreted, dynamically typed, object-oriented, and has a large standard

library.

3. What are the key differences between Python 2 and Python 3?

Answer: Python 3 uses print() function, handles strings differently, and has better Unicode support.

4. What are Python's data types?

Answer: int, float, bool, str, list, tuple, set, dict, complex, and NoneType.

5. What is the difference between list and tuple?

Answer: Lists are mutable, while tuples are immutable.

6. What is the use of a dictionary in Python?

Answer: It stores data in key-value pairs.

7. What are sets in Python?

Answer: Sets are unordered collections of unique elements.

8. What is slicing in Python?

Answer: It is a way to retrieve a portion of a sequence using [start:stop:step].

9. How does Python handle memory management?

Answer: Through reference counting and garbage collection.

10. What is the difference between deep copy and shallow copy?

Answer: Shallow copy copies references, deep copy copies the objects recursively.

11. What are Python modules and packages?

Answer: Modules are single Python files, packages are collections of modules with __init__.py.

12. What is PEP 8?

Answer: PEP 8 is a style guide for Python code.

13. What is indentation in Python?

Answer: It defines the blocks of code; proper indentation is mandatory.

14. What is the difference between is and ==?

Answer: `is` checks identity, `==` checks equality.

15. How do you comment in Python?

Answer: Using `#` for single-line, and triple quotes for multi-line comments.

16. What is the use of pass in Python?

Answer: `pass` is a null operation used as a placeholder.

17. What are *args and **kwargs?

Answer: *args is for variable-length arguments, **kwargs is for keyworded variable-length

arguments.

18. What is a lambda function?

Answer: A small anonymous function using the `lambda` keyword.

19. What is a docstring?

Answer: A string used to document a specific segment of code.

20. How to handle exceptions in Python?

Answer: Using try-except-finally blocks.

21. What are list comprehensions?

Answer: A concise way to create lists using a single line of code.

22. What is a generator?

Answer: A function that yields values one at a time using `yield`.

23. What is the difference between yield and return?

Answer: `yield` returns a generator object, `return` exits a function with a value.

24. What is a decorator?

Answer: A function that modifies another function's behavior.

25. What is a closure?

Answer: A function with access to variables in its lexical scope, even when called outside that

scope.

26. Explain Python namespaces.

Answer: Namespaces are containers for mapping names to objects.

27. What is scope in Python?

Answer: The region where a variable is recognized (local, enclosing, global, built-in).

28. What is the global keyword?

Answer: Used to modify a global variable inside a function.

29. What is the nonlocal keyword?

Answer: Used to modify a variable in the outer (non-global) scope.

30. How does Python implement multithreading?

Answer: Using the threading module, although GIL limits true parallelism.

31. What is the GIL?

Answer: Global Interpreter Lock, allowing only one thread at a time in CPython.

32. What are Python's built-in functions?

Answer: Examples include len(), type(), print(), id(), sum(), etc.

33. What is the difference between append() and extend()?

Answer: append() adds an element, extend() adds multiple elements.

34. How do you merge two dictionaries in Python?

Answer: Using the update() method or `{**d1, **d2}` in Python 3.5+.

35. What is map() function?

Answer: Applies a function to all items in an iterable.

36. What is filter() function?

Answer: Filters elements for which the function returns True.

37. What is reduce() function?

Answer: Applies a rolling computation to a sequence (from functools).

38. What is zip() function?

Answer: Combines multiple iterables element-wise.

39. What is enumerate()?

Answer: Returns an iterable with index-value pairs.

40. What are magic methods?

Answer: Special methods like __init__, __str__, __len__, etc.

41. What is __init__?

Answer: A constructor method called when an object is created.

42. What is __str__?

Answer: Returns the string representation of the object.

43. Explain inheritance in Python.

Answer: A class can inherit attributes and methods from another class.

44. What is multiple inheritance?

Answer: A class can inherit from more than one parent class.

45. What is method overriding?

Answer: Redefining a parent class method in a child class.

46. What is super()?

Answer: Used to call methods of a parent class.

47. What is isinstance()?

Answer: Checks if an object is an instance of a class or tuple of classes.

48. What is hasattr() and getattr()?

Answer: hasattr checks for attribute existence, getattr retrieves it.

49. What is the difference between classmethod and staticmethod?

Answer: classmethod takes cls, staticmethod takes no default argument.

50. What is monkey patching?

Answer: Changing code at runtime dynamically.

51. What is the difference between == and is?

Answer: `==` compares values, `is` compares identities.

52. What is the difference between repr() and str()?

Answer: repr is for developers, str is for users.

53. What are Python iterators?

Answer: Objects representing a stream of data with __next__ method.

54. What is a context manager?

Answer: Used with `with` statement to manage resources.

55. What are the different file modes in Python?

Answer: 'r', 'w', 'a', 'r+', 'b', etc.

56. What is pickling in Python?

Answer: Serializing objects using the pickle module.

57. What are Python libraries?

Answer: Reusable collections of functions and classes.

58. What is virtualenv?

Answer: Tool to create isolated Python environments.

59. What is pip?

Answer: Python's package installer.

60. What is the difference between @staticmethod and @classmethod?

Answer: staticmethod doesn't take any implicit arguments; classmethod takes the class.

61. What are metaclasses in Python?

Answer: A class of a class; controls class creation.

62. What is duck typing?

Answer: Object's behavior is more important than its type.

63. What is the use of __slots__?

Answer: Restricts the creation of instance attributes, saves memory.

64. What is the purpose of the assert statement?

Answer: Used to test if a condition is true.

65. How can you handle memory leaks in Python?

Answer: Using weak references and careful resource management.

66. What is asyncio in Python?

Answer: Library for writing asynchronous code using async/await syntax.

67. What is the purpose of the 'with' statement?

Answer: To wrap the execution of a block with methods defined by a context manager.

68. What are coroutines?

Answer: Special generators that can consume values and yield results.

69. What is a memoryview?

Answer: A memory-efficient view of large binary data.

70. How do you measure performance in Python?

Answer: Using timeit or profiling tools like cProfile.

71. What is the difference between static and dynamic typing?

Answer: Static types are known at compile time; dynamic types at runtime.

72. What is unittest in Python?

Answer: A testing framework for writing and running tests.

73. What are Python's popular frameworks?

Answer: Django, Flask, FastAPI for web; Pandas, NumPy for data.

74. What is the use of the re module?

Answer: Regular expressions for pattern matching.

75. How do you handle JSON in Python?

Answer: Using the json module for serialization/deserialization.

76. What are Python's data science libraries?

Answer: NumPy, Pandas, Matplotlib, Scikit-learn, TensorFlow.

77. How do you create a REST API in Python?

Answer: Using Flask or FastAPI frameworks.

78. What is the difference between compile time and runtime?

Answer: Compile time is before execution; runtime is during execution.

79. What are Python descriptors?

Answer: Objects that manage attribute access using __get__, __set__, and __delete__.

80. What is the difference between module and package?

Answer: Module is a .py file; package is a folder with __init__.py.

81. What is the difference between CPython and Jython?

Answer: CPython is default Python in C; Jython runs on Java platform.

82. How does Python manage memory?

Answer: Using private heap space and garbage collection.

83. What is the __main__ block?

Answer: Used to execute some code only when the file is run directly.

84. What is the walrus operator?

Answer: The := operator assigns values as part of an expression.

85. What is the difference between async and threading?

Answer: async is cooperative multitasking; threading is pre-emptive.

86. How to handle missing values in Python?

Answer: Using pandas functions like fillna() or dropna().

87. What are f-strings?

Answer: Formatted string literals introduced in Python 3.6.

88. How do you connect to a database in Python?

Answer: Using libraries like sqlite3, SQLAlchemy, or psycopg2.

89. What is the difference between int() and float()?

Answer: int() converts to integer, float() to floating-point.

90. How to handle command-line arguments?

Answer: Using sys.argv or argparse module.

91. What is multithreading vs multiprocessing?

Answer: Multithreading shares memory; multiprocessing uses separate memory space.

92. What are weak references?

Answer: Allow access to an object without preventing its garbage collection.

93. What is the use of the traceback module?

Answer: Provides error message and stack trace information.

94. What are type hints?

Answer: Hints about variable types introduced in Python 3.5+.

95. How do you ensure code quality?

Answer: Using tools like pylint, flake8, and writing unit tests.

96. What is the use of the dataclasses module?

Answer: Provides a decorator and functions for automatically adding special methods to classes.

97. How do you build and install a Python package?

Answer: Using setuptools and pip for distribution.