Python Programming/Functions

Function calls

A callable object is an object that can accept some arguments (also called parameters) and possibly return an object (often a tuple containing multiple objects).

A function is the simplest callable object in Python, but there are others, such as classes or certain class instances.

Defining functions

A function is defined in Python by the following format:

def functionname(arg1, arg2, ...):
    statement1
    statement2
    ...

>>> def functionname(arg1,arg2):
...     return arg1+arg2
...
>>> t = functionname(24,24) # Result: 48

If a function takes no arguments, it must still include the parentheses, but without anything in them:

def functionname():
    statement1
    statement2
    ...

The arguments in the function definition bind the arguments passed at function invocation (i.e. when the function is called), which are called actual parameters, to the names given when the function is defined, which are called formal parameters. The interior of the function has no knowledge of the names given to the actual parameters; the names of the actual parameters may not even be accessible (they could be inside another function).

A function can 'return' a value, for example:

def square(x):
    return x*x

A function can define variables within the function body, which are considered 'local' to the function. The locals together with the arguments comprise all the variables within the scope of the function. Any names within the function are unbound when the function returns or reaches the end of the function body.

Declaring Arguments

Default Argument Values

If any of the formal parameters in the function definition are declared with the format "arg = value," then you will have the option of not specifying a value for those arguments when calling the function. If you do not specify a value, then that parameter will have the default value given when the function executes.

>>> def display_message(message, truncate_after=4):
...     print message[:truncate_after]
...
>>> display_message("message")
mess
>>> display_message("message", 6)
messag

Variable-Length Argument Lists

Python allows you to declare two special arguments which allow you to create arbitrary-length argument lists. This means that each time you call the function, you can specify any number of arguments above a certain number.

def function(first,second,*remaining):
    statement1
    statement2
    ...

When calling the above function, you must provide value for each of the first two arguments. However, since the third parameter is marked with an asterisk, any actual parameters after the first two will be packed into a tuple and bound to "remaining."

>>> def print_tail(first,*tail):
...     print tail
...
>>> print_tail(1, 5, 2, "omega")
(5, 2, 'omega')

If we declare a formal parameter prefixed with two asterisks, then it will be bound to a dictionary containing any keyword arguments in the actual parameters which do not correspond to any formal parameters. For example, consider the function:

def make_dictionary(max_length=10, **entries):
    return dict([(key, entries[key]) for i, key in enumerate(entries.keys()) if i < max_length])

If we call this function with any keyword arguments other than max_length, they will be placed in the dictionary "entries." If we include the keyword argument of max_length, it will be bound to the formal parameter max_length, as usual.

>>> make_dictionary(max_length=2, key1=5, key2=7, key3=9)
{'key3': 9, 'key2': 7}

Calling functions

A function can be called by appending the arguments in parentheses to the function name, or an empty matched set of parentheses if the function takes no arguments.

foo()
square(3)
bar(5, x)

A function's return value can be used by assigning it to a variable, like so:

x = foo()
y = bar(5,x)

As shown above, when calling a function you can specify the parameters by name and you can do so in any order

def display_message(message, start=0, end=4):
   print message[start:end]
 
display_message("message", end=3)

This above is valid and start will be the default value of 0. A restriction placed on this is after the first named argument then all arguments after it must also be named. The following is not valid

display_message(end=5, start=1, "my message")

because the third argument ("my message") is an unnamed argument.

Closure

A closure, also known as nested function definition, is a function defined inside another function. Perhaps best described with an example:

>>> def outer(outer_argument):
...     def inner(inner_argument):
...         return outer_argument + inner_argument
...     return inner
...
>>> f = outer(5)
>>> f(3)
8
>>> f(4)
9

Closures are possible in Python because functions are first-class objects. A function is merely an object of type function. Being an object means it is possible to pass a function object (an uncalled function) around as argument or as return value or to assign another name to the function object. A unique feature that makes closure useful is that the enclosed function may use the names defined in the parent function's scope.

lambda

lambda is an anonymous (unnamed) function. It is used primarily to write very short functions that are a hassle to define in the normal way. A function like this:

>>> def add(a, b):
...    return a + b
...
>>> add(4, 3)
7

may also be defined using lambda

>>> print (lambda a, b: a + b)(4, 3)
7

Lambda is often used as an argument to other functions that expects a function object, such as sorted()'s 'key' argument.

>>> sorted([[3, 4], [3, 5], [1, 2], [7, 3]], key=lambda x: x[1])
[[1, 2], [7, 3], [3, 4], [3, 5]]

The lambda form is often useful as a closure, such as illustrated in the following example:

>>> def attribution(name):
...    return lambda x: x + ' -- ' + name
...
>>> pp = attribution('John')
>>> pp('Dinner is in the fridge')
'Dinner is in the fridge -- John'

note that the lambda function can use the values of variables from the scope in which it was created (like pre and post). This is the essence of closure.