parameterized functions: a question of style

[Peter Hansen]

Blair Hall wrote:
> 
> Suppose (just for arguments sake) I need various functions of the form
> y = x**n, where n is a
> parameter, ie I want n to be part of the function definition, not an
> argument to it!
> 
> I am tempted to write
> 
> def gen_fn(n):
>     def _fn(x):
>         return x**n
> 
>     return _fn
[...]
> The only alternative I can think of to this would be inheritance
[...]
> This solution leaves me with a class, not a function (which is what I
> intended to have), so there would be a further step needed to export 
> the class methods as functions.

The further step would simply be to define __call__() methods in the 
classes to make the instances callable.  Then you have "functions" 
in the sense that you probably need them.

-Peter