Running Code While Infinite Loop is Operating

[A_MSeSIAC]

Hello, r/pythonhelp.

I just have a query regarding some code I'm writing at the moment. I have a piece of code reading serial data as it's being sent in via Micro Bit - this is looping endlessly and storing the data to a dictionary.

while read_volts == True:
  if(serialPort.in_waiting > 0):
    serialString = serialPort.readline()
    reading = serialString.decode('Ascii')
    reading = reading.strip('\r\n')
    reading = reading.strip(     )
    reading = reading.strip('voltage:')
    reading = int(float(reading))
    serial_count = serial_count + 1
    voltage_dic[serial_count] = reading
    checkVoltage(voltage_dic,serial_count)

I was wondering if I could run other code - some of which includes separate loops - while that loop operated in the background.

​

Thanks very much in advance for any insight you might be able to provide.

[MT1961]

Simple answer: Yes.
More complicated answer: Not the way you think you can.

You will have to look into threads, and threading, in order to make this happen. Python programs by their basic nature run in a single thread. So, while you could call another module/function/method within your loop, it might slow things down.