The Quick Python Book, Second Edition

Chapter 9. Functions

This chapter covers

• Defining functions
• Using function parameters
• Passing mutable objects as parameters
• Understanding local and global variables
• Creating and using lambda expressions
• Using decorators

This chapter assumes you’re familiar with function definitions in at least one other computer language and with the concepts that correspond to function definitions, arguments, parameters, and so forth.

9.1. Basic function definitions

The basic syntax for a Python function definition is

def name(parameter1, parameter2, . . .):
    body

As it does with control structures, Python uses indentation to delimit the body of the function definition. The following simple example puts the factorial code from a previous section into a ...