This is a heavily simplified version of what I'm suspecting he's trying to portray, key this wouldn't be useful for utility functions like string manipulation b

This is a heavily simplified version of what I'm suspecting he's trying to portray, key this wouldn't be useful for utility functions like string manipulation but more business logic being used across similar functions: def processOrder(): # Some common processing logic print("Processing the order...") def placeOnlineOrder(): processOrder() print("Sending confirmation email...") def placeInStoreOrder(): processOrder() print("Printing receipt...") # Calls from different locations placeOnlineOrder() placeInStoreOrder() Could become: def processOrder(order_type): # Common processing logic print("Processing the order...") if order_type == "online": print("Sending confirmation email...") elif order_type == "in_store": print("Printing receipt...") # Unified calls with different flags processOrder("online") processOrder("in_store")