Pseudocode → Python

Python is closer to pseudocode than most languages — that's the danger. It's tempting to transliterate line-by-line and miss the stdlib function that does it in one call.

See → pseudocode-to-java-code for the general decision framework. This skill covers Python-specific choices.

Pseudocode primitives → stdlib

Python-specific decisions

Worked example

Pseudocode (topological sort, Kahn's):

function topo_sort(G):
    in_degree ← map: each vertex → count of incoming edges
    Q ← queue of all vertices with in_degree 0
    result ← []

    while Q not empty:
        u ← dequeue(Q)
        append u to result
        for each v in neighbors(u):
            in_degree[v] ← in_degree[v] - 1
            if in_degree[v] = 0:
                enqueue(Q, v)

    if |result| ≠ |vertices(G)|:
        error "cycle"
    return result

Python:

from collections import deque, defaultdict

def topo_sort(adj: dict[str, list[str]]) -> list[str]:
    """
    Topologically sort a DAG given as an adjacency list.

    :param adj: {u: [v1, v2, ...]} — edges u → v_i. Every vertex must appear
                as a key (even if its list is empty).
    :return: vertices in topological order.
    :raises ValueError: if the graph has a cycle.
    """
    in_degree: dict[str, int] = defaultdict(int)
    for u in adj:
        in_degree[u]  # ensure every vertex is in the map, even at 0
    for neighbors in adj.values():
        for v in neighbors:
            in_degree[v] += 1

    queue = deque(u for u, d in in_degree.items() if d == 0)
    result: list[str] = []

    while queue:
        u = queue.popleft()
        result.append(u)
        for v in adj[u]:
            in_degree[v] -= 1
            if in_degree[v] == 0:
                queue.append(v)

    if len(result) != len(adj):
        raise ValueError(f"graph has a cycle ({len(adj) - len(result)} vertices unreachable)")
    return result

Python-specific choices:

• deque not list for the queue — list.pop(0) is O(n).
• defaultdict(int) for in-degree — no if k not in d: d[k] = 0 boilerplate. But the in_degree[u] loop is needed to seed vertices with zero in-edges (sink-only vertices).
• ValueError with diagnostic — how many vertices are stuck tells you roughly how big the cycle is.
• Generator expression in deque(...) — no intermediate list.

The index-base trap

Academic pseudocode is usually 1-indexed. Python is 0-indexed. Three strategies:

1. Shift on translation. for i ← 1 to n → for i in range(n); every A[i] stays A[i]. Natural Python. Preferred.
2. Pad the array. A = [None] + actual_data, keep for i in range(1, n+1), keep A[i]. Ugly but mechanical — fewer mistakes on complex index arithmetic.
3. Keep 1-indexed loop, adjust accesses. for i in range(1, n+1): ... A[i-1]. Worst — easy to miss one -1.

Pick (1) unless the pseudocode does arithmetic on indices that's hard to re-derive.

Do not

• Do not write the loop when stdlib has it. max(xs, key=f) not a manual tracking loop. Counter not a defaultdict(int) + loop.
• Do not use list as a queue. pop(0) is O(n). deque.popleft() is O(1).
• Do not mutate default arguments. def f(x, cache={}): — that {} is shared across calls. Use None and cache = cache or {}.
• Do not skip type hints because "Python is dynamic." Pseudocode has implicit types — make them explicit.
• Do not translate error "..." as print + return None. Raise an exception.

Output format

## Stdlib mapping
<pseudocode primitive> → <Python stdlib>

## Code
<python — type-hinted>

## Index base
<1-indexed → 0-indexed, strategy used>

## Deviations
<where the Python is structurally different from the pseudocode, and why it's still equivalent>