--- a/functions.org Wed May 05 19:18:30 2010 +0530
+++ b/functions.org Tue May 11 08:27:24 2010 +0530
@@ -22,17 +22,19 @@
equations. We shall first review these basics. Then we shall move on to
other details such as doc-strings, default arguments and keyword
arguments.
+
+ First let's start IPython by typing ipython in the terminal.
- Let's write a simple function that prints a Hello message, after
+ Let's write a simple function that prints a Hello message, upon
accepting a name.
def welcome(name):
print "Hello", name
- You would recall that def is a keyword that indicates a function
+ You would recall that def is a keyword that indicates the function
definition. 'welcome' is the name of the function and 'name' is
the lone argument to the function. Note that the function is
- defined within an indented block, similar to any other block. Our
+ defined within an indented block, just like to any other block. Our
function welcome just has one line in it's definition.
We can call our function, as follows -
@@ -55,7 +57,10 @@
Notice that the doc string uses triple quotes. If the doc-string
exceeds one line, we can use new line characters in it.
Also, as expected the doc-string is indented as is required
- for anything within a block.
+ for anything within a block. Now that we have written the
+ documentation, how do we access it? IPython provides the question
+ mark feature that we have seen in the previous tutorials. welcome?
+ will display the docstring that we have just written.
We shall now look at default arguments.
[show slide with examples of functions with default arguments]