input: Write a function to optimize the provided Python code using best practices. The function should take an array and a target element as input, and return the index of the element if found, otherwise return -1.
  def linear_search(arr, x):
      for index, item in enumerate(arr):
          if item == x:
              return index
      return -1
  
  assert linear_search([1, 2, 3, 4, 5], 3) == 2
  assert linear_search([1, 2, 3, 4, 5], 6) == -1
  assert linear_search([], 1) == -1
  assert linear_search(['a', 'b', 'c'], 'b') == 1
  assert linear_search(['a', 'b', 'c'], 'd') == -1
output: def linear_search(arr, x):
      try:
          return arr.index(x)
      except ValueError:
          return -1