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Functions

Computer Science

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5 views

Functions

Computer Science

Uploaded by

aqsamunir30
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Functions

CS 101 Algorithmic Problem Solving


Fall 2024

1 What are Functions?


A python function is a block of statements that performs a specific task. The idea is to put some
commonly or repeatedly done tasks together and make a function so that instead of writing
the same code again and again for different inputs, we can do the function calls to reuse code
contained in it over and over.
Some benefits of using functions are:
• Increase Code Readability
• Increase Code Reusability

2 Types of Functions
There are mainly two types of functions in python:
• Built-in library functions: These are standard functions in python that are available to use.
• User-defined function: We can create our own functions based on our requirements.

3 General format and examples

Parameters: are the variables that are defined when the function is declared.
Arguments: are the values passed inside the parenthesis of the function when it is called.
A function can have any number of arguments separated by a comma; it can even have no
arguments. The arguments of a functions can be of many types:

1
CS 101, Fall 2024 Iteration

• Default Arguments: A default argument is a parameter that assumes a default value if


a value is not provided in the function call for that argument. The following example
illustrates Default arguments.
def myFun (x , y = 50 ) :
print ( " x : " , x )
print ( " y : " , y )
myFun ( 10 ) # this will give x the value 10 and y will be 50 , F u n c t i o n can
be called with one argument .
myFun ( 10 , 20 ) # though there is a default a r g u m e n t but when we e x p l i c i t l y give
the argument a value the value of y becomes 20 instead of
50 .

• Keyword/Named Arguments: The idea is to allow the caller to specify the argument name
with values so that the caller does not need to remember the order of parameters.
def student ( firstname , lastname ) :
print ( firstname , lastname )
student ( firstname = ’ Geeks ’ , lastname = ’ Practice ’)
student ( lastname = ’ Practice ’ , firstname = ’ Geeks ’)

In the above example, even though the order of arguments is different in the 2 class, the
output will be the same because the arguments are used by name.
• Positional Arguments: If you forget the order of the arguments or change the positions of
values, the output will be incorrect. To elaborate on this, an example is provided below:
def nameAge ( name , age ) :
print ( " Hi , I am " , name )
print ( " My age is " , age )
# You will get correct output because a r g u m e n t is given in order
nameAge ( " Suraj " , 27 )
# You will get i n c o r r e c t output because a r g u m e n t is not in order
nameAge ( 27 , " Suraj " ) # name and age will be swapped

Moreover, some functions are fruitful functions, which means they return some value when they
are called. In contrast, void functions perform some action but do not return any value. All the
functions provided above as examples are void functions as they do not return any value. An
example of a fruitful function is provided below:
def CalAge ( birth_year , current_year ) :
age = current_year - birth_year
return age
print ( CalAge ( 2002 , 2023 ) ) # 21 will be printed , the value r e t u r n e d can be used
d i r e c t l y to print .

MyAge = CalAge ( 2002 , 2023 ) # value r e t u r n e d from the f r u i t f u l f u n c t i o n can be


stored in a v a r i a b l e and used for other
task .

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