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A function is a block of organised and reusable code used to perform a single or related action.
Functions receive data in the form of arguments and use it to run a specified set of statements and
produce the final output.
Features of Function
Some important features of functions are:
A program is divided into small modules and each module, performs a specific task. Each module
can be called as per the requirement.
We can call a function as many times as required. This saves the programmer's time and effort to
rewrite the same code again. Therefore, it also reduces the length of the program.
Dividing a bigger program into smaller functions makes the program more manageable. It makes
debugging easy and makes the code efficient, both in terms of time and memory usage.
Advantages of Functions
Following are the advantages of functions:
You can write Python program in logically independent sections.
Functions provide better modularity for your application and a high degree of code reusing.
As the program grows larger, functions make it more organized and manageable.
The complexity of a program can be divided into simple subtasks and function subprograms can
be written for every subtasks.
Multiple persons can work on same program by assigning different functions to each of them.
In Python, a function can call the same function again and again, called as recursiveness.
You could also bring in other libraries or modules to your program that contain pre-defined
functions readily available for use.
Components of Python Function
A Python function consists of the following components:
Name of the function: A function name should be unique and easy to correlate with the task it
will perform. We can have functions of the same name with different parameters.
Parameters: These are the variables given inside the parentheses in the function definition.
Statements: The statements are the executable instructions that the function can perform.
Return Value: A function may or may not return a value.
Types of Functions in Python
We have mentioned earlier that one of the strengths of the Python language is that Python
functions are easy to define and use. Python functions can be categorised into built-in functions and
user-defined functions. Let us discuss about them in detail.
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