Python - Functions

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Functions
• A function is a block of organized, reusable
code that is used to perform a single, related
action.
• Functions provide better modularity for your
application and a high degree of code
reusing.
• Python gives you many built-in functions like
print(), etc. but you can also create your own
functions. These functions are called user-
defined functions.
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Defining a Function
• Function blocks begin with the keyword def followed by
the function name and parentheses ( ( ) ).
• Any input parameters or arguments should be placed
within these parentheses. You can also define parameters
inside these parentheses.
• The first statement of a function can be an optional
statement - the documentation string of the function or
docstring.
• The code block within every function starts with a colon
(:) and is indented.
• The statement return [expression] exits a function,
optionally passing back an expression to the caller. A
return statement with no arguments is the same as return
None.
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• Syntax:

• Example

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Calling a Function

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Pass by reference vs value
• All parameters (arguments) in the Python
language are passed by reference.
• It means if you change what a parameter
refers to within a function, the change also
reflects back in the calling function.
• Example:

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Function Arguments
• You can call a function by using the following
types of formal arguments −
• Required arguments
• Keyword arguments
• Default arguments
• Variable-length arguments

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Required arguments
• Required arguments are the arguments passed to a
function in correct positional order.
• The number of arguments in the function call should
match exactly with the function definition

• To call the function printme(), you definitely need to

pass one argument, otherwise it’ll gives a syntax error
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Keyword arguments
• When you use keyword arguments in a function
call, the caller identifies the arguments by the
parameter name.
• This allows you to skip arguments or place them
out of order
• Example:

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Default arguments
• A default argument is an argument that assumes a
default value if a value is not provided in the
function call for that argument.

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Variable-length arguments
• You may need to process a function for more
arguments than you specified while defining the
function.
• Syntax:

• An asterisk (*) is placed before the variable name that

holds the values of all nonkeyword variable arguments.
• This tuple remains empty if no additional arguments
are specified during the function call.
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The Anonymous Functions
• These functions are called anonymous because
they are not declared in the standard manner by
using the def keyword.
• You can use the lambda keyword to create small
anonymous functions.
• Lambda forms can take any number of arguments but return just
one value in the form of an expression.
• An anonymous function cannot be a direct call to print because
lambda requires an expression
• Lambda functions have their own local namespace and cannot
access variables other than those in their parameter list and those
in the global namespace.

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• Syntax:

• Example:

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The return Statement
• The statement return [expression] exits a function,
optionally passing back an expression to the caller.
• A return statement with no arguments is the same
as return None.

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 Python - Exceptions
Handling

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Exceptions Handling
• Python provides two very important features to
handle any unexpected error in your Python
programs and to add debugging capabilities in
them.
• Exception Handling
• Assertions

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 S/N Exception Name & Description
1 Exception - Base class for all exceptions
2 StopIteration - Raised when the next() method of an iterator does not point to
any object.
3 SystemExit - Raised by the sys.exit() function.
4 StandardError - Base class for all built-in exceptions except StopIteration and
SystemExit.
5 ArithmeticError - Base class for all errors that occur for numeric calculation.
6 OverflowError - Raised when a calculation exceeds maximum limit for a numeric
type.
7 FloatingPointError - Raised when a floating point calculation fails.
8 ZeroDivisionError - Raised when division or modulo by zero takes place for all
numeric types.
9 AssertionError - Raised in case of failure of the Assert statement.
10 AttributeError - Raised in case of failure of attribute reference or assignment.
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 11 EOFError - Raised when there is no input from either the raw_input() or input()
function and the end of file is reached.
12 ImportError - Raised when an import statement fails.
13 KeyboardInterrupt - Raised when the user interrupts program execution, usually
by pressing Ctrl+c.
14 LookupError - Base class for all lookup errors.
15 IndexError - Raised when an index is not found in a sequence.
16 KeyError - Raised when the specified key is not found in the dictionary.
17 NameError - Raised when an identifier is not found in the local or global
namespace.
18 UnboundLocalError - Raised when trying to access a local variable in a function or
method but no value has been assigned to it.
19 EnvironmentError - Base class for all exceptions that occur outside the Python
environment.
20 IOError - Raised when an input/ output operation fails, such as the print
statement or the open() function when trying to open a file that does not exist.
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 21 IOError - Raised for operating system-related errors.

22 SyntaxError - Raised when there is an error in Python syntax.

23 IndentationError - Raised when indentation is not specified properly.

24 SystemError - Raised when the interpreter finds an internal problem, but when
this error is encountered the Python interpreter does not exit.
25 SystemExit - Raised when Python interpreter is quit by using the sys.exit()
function. If not handled in the code, causes the interpreter to exit.
26 TypeError - Raised when an operation or function is attempted that is invalid for
the specified data type.
27 ValueError - Raised when the built-in function for a data type has the valid type of
arguments, but the arguments have invalid values specified.
28 RuntimeError - Raised when a generated error does not fall into any category.

29 NotImplementedError - Raised when an abstract method that needs to be

implemented in an inherited class is not actually implemented.
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Assertions in Python
• An assertion is a sanity-check can be can turn on or
turn off when you are done with testing the
program.
• An assertion is to liken it to a raise-if statement (or
to be more accurate, a raise-if-not statement). An
expression is tested, and if the result comes up
false, an exception is raised.
• Programmers often place assertions at the start of a
function to check for valid input, and after a
function call to check for valid output.

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The assert Statement
• The syntax for assert is

• If the assertion fails, Python uses ArgumentExpression

as the argument for the AssertionError.
• AssertionError exceptions can be caught and handled
like any other exception using the try-except
statement, but if not handled, they will terminate the
program and produce a traceback.

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What is Exception?
• An exception is an event, which occurs during the
execution of a program that disrupts the normal flow
of the program's instructions
• When a Python script raises an exception, it must
either handle the exception immediately otherwise it
terminates and quits.
• If you have some suspicious code that may raise an
exception, you can defend your program by placing the
suspicious code in a try: block. After the try: block,
include an except: statement, followed by a block of
code which handles the problem as elegantly as
possible
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• Syntax:

• Example:

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The except Clause with No
Exceptions

• This kind of a try-except statement catches all the

exceptions that occur.
• Using this is not considered a good programming
practice though, because it catches all exceptions but
does not make the programmer identify the root cause
of the problem that may occur
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The except Clause with
Multiple Exceptions
• You can also use the same except statement
to handle multiple exceptions as follows.
• Syntax:

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The try-finally Clause
• You can use a finally: block along with a try:
block.
• The finally block is a place to put any code
that must execute, whether the try-block
raised an exception or not.
• Syntax:

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• You cannot use else clause as well along with
a finally clause.
• Example:

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Argument of an Exception
• An exception can have an argument, which is
a value that gives additional information
about the problem.
• Syntax:

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Raising an Exceptions
• You can raise exceptions in several ways by using the raise
statement.
• Syntax:

• Here, Exception is the type of exception (Eg, NameError) and

argument is a value for the exception argument.
• The argument is optional; if not supplied, the exception
argument is None.
• The final argument, traceback, is also optional (and rarely used
in practice), and if present, is the traceback object used for the
exception.

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• Note: In order to catch an exception, an "except"
clause must refer to the same exception thrown
either class object or simple string.
• For example

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User-Defined Exceptions

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