newbie-ish question on exec statement

[Gabe Newcomb]

Hi all:
	I'd appreciate any comments people might have on the limitations
of using exec. Specifically, what I want to do is build function names
dynamically and call them (don't ask why). 

The function I'm using is one that accepts 3 arguments, the second and
third of which have default values.
The function returns a tuple of 2 values.
I'm calling the function with only one argument, e.g.,

def my_function(arg1, arg2="", arg3=""):
	blah blah

exec "t = my_" + "function('\\\\machine\\share')"


I have a feeling that something unexpected (by me anyway) is happening
with the string I'm trying to pass in as the arg to my_function()--this
is based on the response I'm getting from my function. When I type the
same text (t = my_" + "function('\\\\machine\\share')) into the
interpreter directly, everything's fine.

Is this perhaps only an issue with the interpreter, where I'm testing
this?

Thanks in advance,

Gabe Newcomb