Learn Programming in Python with Cody Jackson

Lambdas

An interesting way of making functions is through anonymous functions, also known as lambda expressions. Lambdas create a function that is essentially processed in-line, rather than giving it a name to be called later (hence, the anonymous part). This is useful when the normal def statement wouldn't necessarily work, such as within a list or as a function call's argument.

When using the normal def statement to create a function, the function is assigned a name and called from a different location, possibly multiple times; it also returns an object of some type. When using a lambda, the function itself is the returned object that can be given a name, if desired.

Lambdas look and work differently than regular functions. First, it is ...