Python Language: Functions: The FOSSEE Group

Python language: Functions
The FOSSEE Group

Department of Aerospace Engineering
IIT Bombay
Mumbai, India
FOSSEE Team (IIT Bombay) Functions 1 / 32

Functions
Outline
1 Functions
Default & Keyword Arguments
Variable Scope
Examples

Functions
Functions for abstraction
Reduce duplication of code

Fewer lines of code: lesser scope for bugs
Re-usability of code
Use functions written by others, without exactly
knowing how they do, what they are doing
Enter Functions!

Functions
Defining functions
Consider the function f(x) = x^2
In Python:
In []: def f(x):
.....: return x*x
.....:
In []: f(1)
In []: f(1+2j)
def is a keyword
f is the name of the function
x the parameter of the function
return is a keyword
Functions
Defining functions . . .
In []: def greet():

.....: print("Hello World!")
.....:
In []: greet()
greet is a function that takes no arguments

It returns nothing explicitly
Implicitly, Python returns None
None is also a built-in, immutable data type

Functions
Defining functions . . .
In []: def avg(a, b):

.....: return (a + b)/2
.....:
In []: avg(12, 10)
avg takes two arguments

Returns one value

Functions
Doc-strings
It’s highly recommended that all functions have
documentation
We write a doc-string along with the function
definition
def avg(a, b):

"""Returns the average of two
given numbers."""
return (a + b)/2
In[]: avg?
In[]: greet?
Functions
Returning multiple values

Return area and perimeter of circle, given radius
Function needs to return two values
def circle(r):
"""Returns area and perimeter of
circle given radius r"""
pi = 3.14
area = pi * r * r
perimeter = 2 * pi * r
return area, perimeter
In []: circle(4)
In []: a, p = circle(6)
Functions Default & Keyword Arguments
Outline
1 Functions
Variable Scope
Examples

Default arguments
In []: round(2.484)
In []: round(2.484, 2)
In []: s.split() # split on spaces

In []: s.split(’;’) # split on ’;’
In []: range(10)
In []: range(1, 10)
In []: range(1, 10, 2)

Default arguments . . .
In []: def welcome(greet, name="World"):

.....: print(greet, name)
.....:
In []: welcome("Hi", "Guido")

In []: welcome("Hello")

Default arguments . . .
Arguments with default values, should be placed at

the end
The following definition is WRONG
In []: def welcome(name="World", greet):

.....:

Keyword Arguments
In []: def welcome(greet, name="World"):

.....:
In []: welcome("Hello", "James")
In []: welcome("Hi", name="Guido")
In []: welcome(name="Guido",greet="Hey")
In []: welcome(name="Guido", "Hey")

Cannot have non-keyword args after kwargs
Built-in functions
Variety of built-in functions are available

abs, any, all, len, max, min
pow, range, sum, type
Refer here: http://docs.python.org/
library/functions.html

Functions Variable Scope
Outline
1 Functions
Variable Scope
Examples

Arguments are local
In []: def change(q):

.....: q = 10
.....: print(q)
.....:
In []: change(1)
In []: print(q)

Variables inside function are local
In []: n = 5
In []: def change():
.....: n = 10
.....: print(n)
.....:
In []: change()
In []: print(n)

If not defined, look in parent scope
In []: n = 5
In []: def scope():
.....: print(n)
.....:
In []: scope()
Note that n was not defined in scope

It looked for the variable in previous scope
See: pythontutor.com

global
Use the global statement to assign to global

variables
In[]: def change():

....: global n
....: n = 10
....: print(n)
....:
In[]: change()
In[]: print(n)

Mutable variables
Behavior is different when assigning to a list

element/slice
Python looks up for the name, from innermost
scope outwards, until the name is found
In []: name = [’Mr.’, ’Steve’,’Gosling’]

In []: def change_name():
.....: name[0] = ’Dr.’
.....:
In []: change_name()
In []: print(name)

Passing Arguments . . .
In []: n = 5
In []: def change(n):
.....: n = 10
.....: print(n, "inside change")
.....:
In []: change(n)
In []: print(n)


In []: def change_name(x):
.....: x[0] = ’Dr.’
.....: print(x, ’in change’)
.....:
In []: change_name(name)
In []: print(name)


.....: x = [1,2,3]
.....:
In []: print(name)


.....: x[:] = [1,2,3]
.....:
In []: print(name)

Functions Examples
Outline
1 Functions
Variable Scope
Examples

Functions Examples
Functions: example
def signum( r ):
"""returns 0 if r is zero
-1 if r is negative
+1 if r is positive"""
if r < 0:
return -1
elif r > 0:
return 1
else:
return 0
Note docstrings
Functions Examples
What does this function do?
def what(n):
if n < 0: n = -n
while n > 0:
if n % 2 == 1:
return False
n /= 10
return True

Functions Examples
def what(n):
i = 1
while i * i < n:
i += 1
return i * i == n, i

Functions Examples

def what(x, n):
if n < 0:
n = -n
x = 1.0 / x
z = 1.0
while n > 0:
if n % 2 == 1:
z *= x
x *= x
n //= 2
return z
Functions Examples
Nested functions
def f(x):
def g(x):
return x+1
return g(x)**2

Functions Examples
Nested functions: returning functions
def f():
def g(x):
return x+1
return g
In []: func = f()

In []: func(1)
In []: f()(1) # Also valid!

Functions Examples
Summary
Defining functions
Taking either 0, or more arguments
Returning None implicitly or any number of values
Default and keyword arguments
Variable scope, global
Mutable and immutable arguments
Nested functions

Python Language: Functions: The FOSSEE Group

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Python language: Functions

The FOSSEE Group

FOSSEE Team (IIT Bombay) Functions 1 / 32

FOSSEE Team (IIT Bombay) Functions 2 / 32

Functions for abstraction

Reduce duplication of code

FOSSEE Team (IIT Bombay) Functions 3 / 32

In []: def greet():

greet is a function that takes no arguments

FOSSEE Team (IIT Bombay) Functions 5 / 32

In []: def avg(a, b):

In []: avg(12, 10)

avg takes two arguments

FOSSEE Team (IIT Bombay) Functions 6 / 32

def avg(a, b):

Returning multiple values

FOSSEE Team (IIT Bombay) Functions 9 / 32

In []: s.split() # split on spaces

FOSSEE Team (IIT Bombay) Functions 10 / 32

In []: def welcome(greet, name="World"):

In []: welcome("Hi", "Guido")

FOSSEE Team (IIT Bombay) Functions 11 / 32

Arguments with default values, should be placed at

In []: def welcome(name="World", greet):

FOSSEE Team (IIT Bombay) Functions 12 / 32

In []: def welcome(greet, name="World"):

In []: welcome("Hello", "James")

In []: welcome("Hi", name="Guido")

In []: welcome(name="Guido", "Hey")

Variety of built-in functions are available

FOSSEE Team (IIT Bombay) Functions 14 / 32

FOSSEE Team (IIT Bombay) Functions 15 / 32

Arguments are local

In []: def change(q):

FOSSEE Team (IIT Bombay) Functions 16 / 32

Variables inside function are local

FOSSEE Team (IIT Bombay) Functions 17 / 32

If not defined, look in parent scope

Note that n was not defined in scope

FOSSEE Team (IIT Bombay) Functions 18 / 32

Use the global statement to assign to global

In[]: def change():

FOSSEE Team (IIT Bombay) Functions 19 / 32

Behavior is different when assigning to a list

In []: name = [’Mr.’, ’Steve’,’Gosling’]

FOSSEE Team (IIT Bombay) Functions 20 / 32

FOSSEE Team (IIT Bombay) Functions 21 / 32

In []: name = [’Mr.’, ’Steve’,’Gosling’]

FOSSEE Team (IIT Bombay) Functions 22 / 32

In []: name = [’Mr.’, ’Steve’,’Gosling’]

FOSSEE Team (IIT Bombay) Functions 23 / 32

In []: name = [’Mr.’, ’Steve’,’Gosling’]

FOSSEE Team (IIT Bombay) Functions 24 / 32

FOSSEE Team (IIT Bombay) Functions 25 / 32

What does this function do?

FOSSEE Team (IIT Bombay) Functions 27 / 32

What does this function do?

FOSSEE Team (IIT Bombay) Functions 28 / 32

What does this function do?

FOSSEE Team (IIT Bombay) Functions 30 / 32

Nested functions: returning functions

In []: func = f()

FOSSEE Team (IIT Bombay) Functions 31 / 32