Python tutorial: Functions, Variable scopes, Lambda functions ...




Example 1: Defining a function with out return statment


#Following function will print multipication table of a given number

def table(a):

	b = 1
	
	while b <= 5:
		
		print ("%d * %d  = %d" %(a, b, b*a) )
		
		b += 1
		
table (5)

----------Output----------

5 * 1  = 5
5 * 2  = 10
5 * 3  = 15
5 * 4  = 20
5 * 5  = 25



Example 2: Defining function with return statement


	
def average (a,b,c):

	d = (a + b + c ) / 3
	
	return d
	
result = average (10,20,30)

print (result)

----------Output----------

20.0




Variable scope: Local variables and Global variables


Local variables

In the program mentioned above, variables a,b,c and d are local variables of the function average. Scope of those variables are with in the function average , so this program will throw an error if we try to use them outside the function .


def average (a,b,c):

	d = (a + b + c ) / 3
	
	return d
	

result = average (10,20,30)

print (d)


----------Output----------

print (d)
NameError: name 'd' is not defined




Global variables

Variables defined outside the function are treated as global variables, and will be available in all functions without global command.


a = 10

def average (b,c):

	print ("a is", a)
	
	d = ( a + b + c ) / 3
	
	return d
	

print (average (20, 30) )


----------Output----------

20.0



Note:If we assign value to a variable using “=” inside a function , that variable will become a local variable (even if the same name is used in the global scope).


a = 10

def average (b, c):

	a = 40
	
	d = ( a + b + c ) / 3
	
	print ("average is", d)
	
	print ("local variable ‘a’ is", a)
	
	

average (20,30)

print ("global variable ‘a’ is still", a)


----------Output----------

average is 30.0

local variable 'a' is 40

global variable 'a' is still 10




Use global command to assign or modify the value of a global variable


a = 10

def average (b,c):

	global a
	
	print ("variable 'a' inside function is ", a)
	
	d = ( a + b + c ) / 3
	
	print ("average is",d)
	
	a = 40 		 #this will change the value of 'a' locally and globaly
		

average (20,30)

print ("global variable 'a' is now", a)


----------Output----------

variable 'a' inside function is  10

average is 20.0

global variable 'a' is now 40




Call by object Reference

If a mutable argument is used, modification done inside the function will be visible outside also.

In the function defined below, 'x' is pointing to the object 'a' . If we modify 'x' , that change will reflect in 'a' also


def add_to_list (x,y):
	
	x.append(y)   


a = []

add_to_list (a,10)

add_to_list (a,20)

add_to_list (a,30)

print (a)


----------Output----------

[10, 20, 30]


'''
Note: if we use "=" to assign some value in 'x' inside the function, 
'x' will become a local variable and it wont be pointing to 'a'
'''



Keeping default value to arguments

	
def average (a, b, c = 30):
	
	print ( (a + b + c) / 3)
	
average (10, 20)

average (10, 20, 60)


----------Output----------

20.0

30.0




Keyword arguments

	
def repeat(string, count):
	
	a = 1
	
	while a < count:
		
		print (string)
		
		a += 1

repeat (count = 3, string = "python")

----------Output----------

python

python

python




Passing variable number of arguments


def sum (a, b, *c):

	result = a + b
	
	for tmp in c:
		result += tmp
		
	print (result)

sum (10, 20)
sum (10, 20, 30)
sum (10, 20, 30, 40)


----------Output----------

30

60

100





Lambda expressions / Lambda operator / Lambda function

Lambda functions are similar to a normal functions , but they doesn’t have a name. So they are also called as anonymous functions.

Lambda functions has arguments similar to normal functions and they can evaluate an expression with these arguments and return the result. They are created using “lambda” keyword.

Note: Only one expression is allowed with lambda functions.


>>> cube = lambda x : x ** 3

>>> cube (5)
125

>>> even = lambda x : True if x % 2 == 0 else False

>>> even(10)
True

>>> sum = lambda x,y : x + y

>>> sum (10,5)
15




Using lambda functions with filter(), map() , reduce()

Lambda functions will be useful whenever a function object is required. For example , builtin functions like filter(), map() and reduce() an make use of Lambda function as they require a function object as an argument

	
>>> a = [1,2,3,4,5]

>>> cube = lambda x : x ** 3

>>> print ( list (map (cube ,a) ) ) 
[1, 8, 27, 64, 125]


>>> a = [1,2,3,4,5]

>>> even = lambda x : True if x % 2 == 0 else False

>>> print (list(filter (even,a)))
[2, 4]

>>> from functools import reduce

>>> a = [1,2,3,4,5]

>>> sum = lambda x,y : x + y

>>> reduce (sum,a)
15




Python Exercises

1. Create function to check whether given number is prime or not. Use this function with list of numbers to print only the prime numbers from a list.

2. Write a python program to find the factorial of a number using recursive function call

3.1 Create a function to find the smallest element of a given list

3.2 Create another function to return the position of a given element in a list

3.3 Create one more function to delete the element in a given position

3.4 Using the above three functions find, print and remove the smallest number in a list.

Repeat this process till the list is empty to get numbers in sorted order.

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