lambda ??

[Benjamin Niemann]

lambda returns the functions, thus can be used *in* an expression or 
function call, when a callable is required. This is often a useful shortcut.
But according to another thread 'lambda' is one candidate for things 
that are dropped in a future version of Python...

Michael Foord wrote:
> I'm starting to read through the developer works article on Functional
> Programming - http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-prog.html
> 
> It starts by giving some basic examples using lambda. What I'm
> wondering is what's the actual difference between these two forms ?
> 
> pr = lambda s:s
> *and*
> def pr(s):
>     return s
> 
> Both bind the name 'pr' to a function object that does the same thing
> ?? I know that lambda functions can only be a single expression......
> 
> Is it just a basic example (and so in this case there is no
> difference).. or am I missing something. (What's the point of an
> 'anonymous' function... if you give a name to it !!).
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Fuzzy
> 
> http://www.voidspace.org.uk/atlatnibots/pythonutils.html