list/dictionary as case statement ?

[Gary Herron]

Stef Mientki wrote:
> If I'm not mistaken, I read somewhere that you can use 
> function-names/references in lists and/or dictionaries, but now I can't 
> find it anymore.
>
> The idea is to build a simulator for some kind of micro controller (just 
> as a general practise, I expect it too be very slow ;-).
>
> opcodes ={
>    1: ('MOV', function1, ...),
>    2: ('ADD', function2, ),
>    3: ('MUL', class3.function3, )
>    }
>
> def function1
>    # do something complex
>
>
> Is this possible ?
>
> thanks,
> Stef Mientki
>   

Yes. Functions are (so called) first class objects. You can refer to one 
by name, and pass that reference around in variables and other data 
structures.

That said, your code above won't work as written because function1 is 
not in existence when you refer to it.

Here's some working code which manipulates a reference to a function 
then calls it:

 >>> def fn():
... print "Hello world!"
...
 >>> x = fn
 >>> y = [fn,fn]
 >>> z = {1:fn, 2:fn}
 >>>
 >>> x()
Hello world!
 >>> y[0]()
Hello world!
 >>> y[1]()
Hello world!
 >>> z[1]()
Hello world!
 >>> z[2]()
Hello world!
 >>>

Gary Herron