[Tutor] functions and default argument

[Prasad, Ramit]

>Interesting thread and webpages. Insightful, but is this really used as a technique in daily practice? It feels a bit like a hack to me. Like the author of one of the websites said: rule #1 don't mess with this.

I think the problem with rule #1 is that this can occur when you do *not* understand what is going on. The behavior can be non-intuitive for programmers coming from other (more statically-typed) languages and figuring out the programming error can be difficult depending on the complexity/design of the function or program.

As for daily usage, well that depends on each person's needs; I do not need to write to files daily either, but I suspect most people would consider my Python knowledge lacking if I did not ;). I suspect you are right and it is not used on a daily basis by the majority of Python users/developers.

In my opinion, knowledge > ignorance. 

Ramit


Ramit Prasad | JPMorgan Chase Investment Bank | Currencies Technology
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