Lesson for Python Developers: Prioritize Search Efficiency, Robustness, and UX
Indexing Improves Performance
Replacing linear searches with bisect-based indexed lookups (O(log n)) provides massive performance gains when dealing with large, sorted datasets like package listings.
Casefold, Don’t Just Lowercase
Use .casefold() instead of .lower() for case-insensitive search to properly handle international characters. It is the correct Unicode-aware way to normalize user input and data.
Defensive Programming Matters
Catching multiple exceptions (FileNotFoundError, TimeoutExpired, etc.) prevents crashes in production when external commands (pkg) fail or hang. Always add a timeout to subprocess.run().
Clean Shutdowns are Essential
Connecting the GTK window’s destroy signal to Gtk.main_quit ensures your GUI exits gracefully. It avoids leaving zombie processes and improves system reliability.
Embrace Data Models
Using @dataclass over ad-hoc dictionaries improves clarity, tooling support (type checking, auto-completion), and consistency across the codebase.
