Python Parameters

Python parameters

Created By: chatGPT

Parameters in Python are variables that accept values when a function is called. They allow us to pass data into functions. Understanding how to use parameters is crucial for efficient coding. Here’s how to define a function with parameters:

def greet(name):
    print(f'Hello, {name}!')

When you call a function with parameters, you provide the actual values that the parameters will use. Here's an example of how to call the greet function:

greet('Alice')  # Output: Hello, Alice!

Default Parameters allow you to set a default value for a parameter if no argument is passed during the function call. You can define a function with a default parameter as shown:

def greet(name='John'):
    print(f'Hello, {name}!')

With the above function, if you call greet() without any arguments, it will use 'John' as the default name:

greet()  # Output: Hello, John!

Keyword Arguments offer more clarity by allowing you to specify arguments by their parameter name. This is helpful when a function has many parameters. Here’s an example:

def describe_person(name, age):
    print(f'{name} is {age} years old.')

describe_person(age=25, name='Alice')

In the example above, we pass the age and name as keyword arguments. This way, the order of arguments does not matter.

describe_person(name='Bob', age=30)  # Output: Bob is 30 years old.

Variable-length Arguments allow you to pass a variable number of arguments to a function. You can achieve this using the *args and **kwargs syntax. Here’s a quick example for each:

def my_favorite_fruits(*fruits):
    for fruit in fruits:
        print(f'I like {fruit}.')

my_favorite_fruits('apple', 'banana', 'cherry')

In this code snippet, the *fruits allows the function to take any number of fruit arguments. Now, let’s consider **kwargs for keyword arguments:

def print_student_info(**student):
    for key, value in student.items():
        print(f'{key}: {value}')

print_student_info(name='Alice', age=20, major='Biology')

In this case, **student collects all keyword arguments into a dictionary, which allows us to handle different types of data flexibly.