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If you want a function that's private to a function in Python you _could_ also do: def foo(context): def bar(x): return x*2
by heisenzombie 2y ago
If you want a function that's private to a function in Python you _could_ also do:
def foo(context):
def bar(x):
return x*2
baz = bar(context)
... This is particularly idiomatic for higher order functions, but I think it can be useful for other things if used with restraint.
But if you have functions that only need to be called from one calling function then I why not just inline the code and eschew having a function at all. Long function bodies for the win!
- notfish 2y agoDon’t do this, it makes it a huge pain to test bar(). When you write the initial code to figure out bar, just throw that code in a unit test so you can run it any time. Stop throwing tests away!
- heisenzombie 2y agoYes, perhaps I wasn’t clear — I’m advocating for just the inlined version, not the nested function in the general case. The nested function is, I think, fine when it’s so tiny it’s not worth unit testing (like, it-could-have-been-a-lambda small) or when bar is returned by foo (ie foo is higher order), in which case you can test the return value. Apart from that… restraint!