108443 – Introduction to

Information Technology

Functions & Modules

Note:- some material of the course has been adopted from freely available public sources
12/28/2024
Intro
 A function is a group of related statements that performs a
specific task.
 Functions help break our program into smaller and
modular chunks. As our program grows larger and larger,
functions make it more organized and manageable.
 Furthermore, it avoids repetition and makes the code
reusable.
 A function is a block of code which only runs when it is
called. You can pass data, known as parameters, into a
function. A function can return data as a result
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Built-in Functions
 We don’t need to define them

 You have seen many functions already

 Type casting functions: int(), float(), bool(), str()

 Get type of a value: type()

 Exit function: exit()

 Full list can be referenced @

[https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html]

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Some Examples of Built-in Functions

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Some Examples of Built-in Math Functions

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Why Functions?
 Creating a new function gives you an opportunity
to name a group of statements, which makes your
program easier to read and debug.
 Functions can make a program smaller by
eliminating repetitive code. Later, if you make a
change, you only need to make it in one place.
 Well-designed functions are often useful for many
programs. Once you write and debug one, you can
reuse it.
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Function Syntax

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Creating/defining a Function

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Number of Arguments
 By default, a function must be called with the correct number of
arguments. Meaning that if your function expects 2 arguments, you
must call the function with 2 arguments, not more, and not less.

 This function expects 2 arguments, and gets 2 arguments:

 If you try to call the function with 1 or 3 arguments, you will get an
error.
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Default Argument/Parameter Value
 The following example shows how to use a default

parameter value.
 If we call the function without argument, it uses

the default value:

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Fruitful Functions and Void Functions
 Some functions, such as the math functions,

return results; those can be called fruitful

functions.
 Other functions, which don’t return a value. They

can be called void functions.

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Void Function
 Defining a
function

 Calling a
function
 Avoid having a variable and a function with the

same name
 Empty parentheses after the name indicates

function doesn’t take any arguments

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Fruitful Function

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The return Statement

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Example of return (Absolute Value)

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Return Multiple Values

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How Function works in Python

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Class Tasks
 Write a function named “average()” that takes three integers as input and returns the
average of the three numbers.

 Write a function named “area_circle()” that takes the radius of a circle as input and
returns the area of the circle.

 Write a function named “slope()” that takes the X and Y coordinates of two points on a
line as input and returns the slope of the line: 𝑦2 − 𝑦1 = 𝑚 ( 𝑥2 − 𝑥1 ).

 Write a function named “isEven()” that takes a positive integer as input and returns 1 if
the number is even and returns 0 if the number is odd

 Write a function named “factorial()” that takes a positive integer as input and returns
the
factorial of the input number.
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Scope and Lifetime of Variables
 Global and nonlocal keywords
 Try to limit the global variables in program, global
variables can be accessed and modified anywhere,
and this may result in unexpected behavior’s
 Variables declared within a function are scoped
only to that function – called Local Variables
 Local Variables are not accessible/ visible outside
of that function

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Example: Local Variable

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Example: Global Variable & global Keyword

100

101
101

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Example: Non-Local Variable & nonlocal Keyword

22 Ref:- Ch12: A beginner's’ Guide to Python 3 programming 12/28/2024

Modules
 A python file - can have functions, variables, classes &
executable code
 To access a module, use the import command:
import <module name>
 Can then access functions like this:
<module name>.<function name>(<arguments>)
 Example:
>>> import math
>>> math.cos(2.0)
-0.4161468365471424
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Reference: Ch 25 of (A beginner guide To Python 3…) Book 12/28/2024
Modules Variables
 Modules can have variables, too

 Can access them like this:

<module name>.<variable name>

 Example:

>>> import math

>>> math.pi
3.141592653589793

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Modules Help
 After importing a module, can see what functions

and variables are available with:

help(<module name>)

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Modules (Online Help)

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Some of Frequently Used built-in Modules
 io

 Read/write from files

 random

 Generate random numbers

 Can pick any distribution

 string

 Useful string functions

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User Created Module

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Importing and Using of Modules
 Multiple Modules can be imported in single line

Import module1, module2, module3

 We can avoid the module name in prefix like

math.pi by importing it as directly available

from <module name> import *
 However, it can result in name clashesMay ignore
for now

 We can also import a specific feature only

from <module name> import <feature name>

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Importing and Using of Modules
 We can give an alias for a module being imported

import <module_name> as <alternative_module_name>

 We can also give an alias for an element being imported
from a module
from <module_name> import <element> as <alias>
May ignore
for now

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Hiding Some Elements of a Module
 Any element in a module starts with an underbar

('_') is hidden when a wildcard import of the

contents of a module is performed.

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Hiding Some Elements of a Module
 However, if we explicitly import the function then

we can still reference it:

 To limit the scope of animport to a function; use

it in the body of function

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Lambda Function
A lambda function is an anonymous
function (i.e., defined without a name)
that can take any number of arguments
 But, unlike normal functions, evaluates
and returns only one expression.

Syntax
lambda parameters : expression
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Examples
1. Add 10 to argument a, and return the result:
x = lambda a : a + 10
print(x(5))
2. Multiply argument a with argument b and return the result:
x = lambda a, b : a * b
print(x(5, 6))

3. Sum argument a, b, and c and return the result:

x = lambda a, b, c : a + b + c
print(x(5, 6, 2))

4. Calculate the length of each word in the tuple:

def myfunc(n):
return len(n)

x = map(myfunc, ('apple', 'banana', 'cherry’))

x = map(lambda x:len(x),
('apple', 'banana', 'cherry'))
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Creation & Immediate Execution
 We can execute the lambda function
immediately after its creation and receive the
result.
 print((lambda x: x + 1)(2))

 print((lambda x, y, z: x + y + z)(3, 8, 1))

 print((lambda x: x if(x > 10) else 10)(5))

 print((lambda x: x if(x > 10) else 10)(12))

 If multiple conditions are present (if-elif-...-else), we must

nest them:
 (lambda x: x * 10 if x > 10 else (x * 5 if x < 5 else x))(11)
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