Say Goodbye to If-Else: Simplify Your Python Code

Unlock Cleaner, More Maintainable Solutions with Python’s Advanced Features and Design Patterns

Image by author

I bet we’ve all been in this situation as Python programmers. For example, when we enter a codebase, we see if-else statements multiplying like spaghetti strings. They’re branched and nested everywhere in the source code. This makes the logic seem opaque, and soon our code will be difficult to maintain.
Well, there’s good news: if you work with Python, you don’t need if-else statements anymore! We’ll show you how to write clean and maintainable code by avoiding such statements and using some of the powerful features of this language, such as refactoring with design patterns like Strategy or Factory.

The Problem with If-Else

The Messy Code
We’ve all seen code like this:

def calculate_shipping_cost(shipping_type, weight):
    if shipping_type == "STANDARD":
        return weight * 5.0
    elif shipping_type == "EXPRESS":
        return weight * 10.0
    elif shipping_type == "SAME_DAY":
        return weight * 20.0
    elif shipping_type == "INTERNATIONAL":
        return weight * 50.0
    elif shipping_type == "OVERNIGHT":
        return weight * 30.0
    return 0