METU Computer Engineering

CEng 240 – Spring 2021

Week 8
Sinan Kalkan

Functions [continued]

Disclaimer: Figures without reference are from either from “Introduction to programming concepts
with case studies in Python” or “Programming with Python for Engineers”, which are both co-authored
by me.
 0!
Functions in Python
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¢ Syntax is important!
¢ Indentation is extremely important!

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4Nested Functions in Python
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Global Variables in Python
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Pr ¢ To access variables in the global workspace,
you should use “global <varname>”

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Scope in Python
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Pr ¢ Since you can nest
functions in Python,
understanding scope
is important

¢ LEGB rule:
Local < Enclosing <
Global < Built-in
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 Parameter 40! passing in functions in
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 Parameter 40! passing in functions in
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 Parameter 40! passing in functions in
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 0!
Default Parameters in Python
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¢ We can now call this function with reverse_num()

in which case Number is assumed to be 123.
¢ If we supply a value for Number, that value is
used instead.

2020 S. Kalkan & G. Ucoluk - CEng 111 9

 This Week
METU Computer Engineering

¢ Previous week was:

§ Why define functions?
§ Defining functions
§ Parameter passing
§ Default parameters
§ Scope of variables
§ Examples
¢ This week:
§ Recursion, higher-order functions
§ Examples
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 Administrative Notes
METU Computer Engineering

¢ Lab 5
¢ Midterm: 1 June, Tuesday, 17:40

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 Higher-order functions
METU Computer Engineering

¢ map(function, Iterator)

¢ filter(predicate, Iterator)

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 Recursion: An action wizard
METU Computer Engineering

¢ What is recursion?

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 Recursion: An example
METU Computer Engineering

¢ Definition of factorial:

• More formally:

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 Recursion: an example (cont’d)
METU Computer Engineering

¢ A careful look at the formal definition:

Factorial uses
its own definition!
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 Recurrence & Recursion
METU Computer Engineering

¢ This is called recurrence relation/rule.

¢ Algorithms which make use of recurrence
relations are called recursive.

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 Recursion: an example (cont’d)
METU Computer Engineering

¢ Let us look at the pseudo-code:

def factorial(N):
if N == 0: return 1
else: return N * factorial(N-1)

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 Recursion: another example
METU Computer Engineering

¢ Recursive definition of even or odd (a

mutually recursive example):

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 Another example for recursion
METU Computer Engineering

¢ Reversing a list / string

§ [a, b, c] à [c, b, a]
¢ reverse([a, b, c]) = reverse([b, c]) + [a].

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 Function Examples
METU Computer Engineering

What is printed by the following code piece?

N = 1
M = 2

def f():
global M
N = 3
M = 4
print(N, M)

f()
print(N,M)

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 Function Examples
METU Computer Engineering

¢ Finding the median

§ https://pp4e-workbook.github.io/chapters/functions/finding_median.html

¢ Bankruptcy Countdown:
§ https://pp4e-workbook.github.io/chapters/functions/bankruptcy_countdown.html

¢ Perfect Number:
§ https://pp4e-workbook.github.io/chapters/functions/perfect_number.html

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 Final Words:
Important Concepts
METU Computer Engineering

¢ Benefits of defining functions

¢ How to define functions
¢ Default parameters
¢ Scopes of variables

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METU Computer Engineering

THAT’S ALL FOLKS!

STAY HEALTHY

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