BERV 1313

Computer
Programming
Function
Prepared by Rosziana Binti Hashim
Learning Objective

• To know the idea of functions and why we need them.

• To know how to define a function, it’s arguments, and return statements.
• To know how to call or execute a function.

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Function
• A function is a set of statements that take inputs, do some specific computation and produces
output.
• The idea is to put some commonly or repeatedly done task together and make a function, so
that instead or writing the same code again and again for different inputs, we call the function.
• Python provides build-in functions like print(), etc. but we can also create our own functions.
These function are called user-defined function.

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Types of Functions
• Basically, we can divide functions into the following two types:

 Built-in functions
function that are built into Python

 User-defined functions
function defined by users themselves.

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Defining Function
• Function blocks begin with the keyword def followed by the function name and
parentheses( ( ) ) .

• Any input parameters or arguments should be placed within these parentheses. You can also
define parameters inside these parentheses.

• The code block within every function starts with a colon ( : ) and is indented.

• The statement return [ expression ] exit a function, optionally passing back an expression to the
caller. A return statement with no arguments is the same as return None.

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Syntax
 The first statement of a function can be an optional statement-the documentation string of the
function or docstring.

 Function Syntax:
def function_name ( parameters ):
“function_docstring” #optional
function_statement
return [ expression]
 Example
def evenOdd( x ):
“A function to check if given number is even or
odd”
if ( x % 2 == 0):
print(“even”)
else :
print(“odd”)
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Calling a Function
• Defining a function only give it a name, specifies the parameters that are to be included in the
function and structures the block of code.
• One the basic structure of a function is finalized, you can execute it by calling it from another
function or directly from the Python prompt.
• You must make sure that the given arguments matches the parameters specified in the
function.
• The function calling may be done before or after function definition

Example def evenOdd( x ):

“A function to check if given number is even or odd”
if ( x % 2 == 0):
print(“even”)
else :
print(“odd”)

#calling the function

evenOdd(2)
evenOdd(3)
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Default Argument
• Defining a function only give it a name, specifies the parameters that are to be included in the
function and structures the block of code.
• One the basic structure of a function is finalized, you can execute it by calling it from another
function or directly from the Python prompt.
• You must make sure that the given arguments matches the parameters specified in the
function.
• The function calling may be done before or after function definition

Example def evenOdd( x ):

“A function to check if given number is even or odd”
if ( x % 2 == 0):
print(“even”)
else :
print(“odd”)

#calling the function

evenOdd(2)
even Odd(3)
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Multiple Arguments
• We may specified more than one parameter to the function. Hence, effects the number of
arguments needed.

Example #multiple arguments

def printWelcome( fn, ln ):
print(“Welcome {} {}!”.format(fn, ln))

printWelcome(“Mas”, “Elyna”)

• We may specified any of the parameters with default value

Example #multiple arguments
def printWelcome( fn, ln= “Doe” ):
print(“Welcome {} {}!”.format(fn, ln))

printWelcome(“Mas”, “Elyna”)
printWelcome(“Mas”)

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Keyword Arguments
• The idea is to allow caller to specify argument name with values so that caller does not need to
remember the order of parameters.

Example #multiple arguments

def printWelcome( fn, ln ):
print(“Welcome {} {}!”.format(fn, ln))

#call the function with key, so we don’t need

#to remember the order of parameters.

printWelcome(fn=“Mas”, ln=“Elyna”)
printWelcome(ln=“Doe”, fn=“John”)

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Arbitrary Arguments
• If you do not know how many arguments will be passed into your function, add a * before
parameter name in the function definition.
• This way the function will receive a tuple arguments, and can access the items accordingly.

Example #multiple arguments

def printInfo( *args ):
“This function can receive a tuple arguments”
for x in args:
print(x, end=“ ”)
print(“\n-----”)

#call the function with arbitrary number of arguments

printInfo(1,2,3,4,5)
printInfo(“a”,”b”,”c”)
printInfo(“Hi”)
printInfo()

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Arbitrary Arguments
• You can send any data types of arguments to a function (string, number, list, dictionary etc.),
and it will be treated as the same data type inside the function.

Example #passing list as arguments

def printFunc( food ):
for x in food:
print(x)

#call the function, giving a list as argument

fruits = [“apple”, “banana”, “cherry”]

printFunc(fruits)

dessert = [“cake”, “pie”, “jelly” ]

printFunc(dessert)

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Return Value
• To let a function return a value, use the return statement:

Example #return value

def addTwo( x ):
“This function will add the argument with 2”

return x+2

#example: call the function and print the returned value

print(addTwo(3))

#example: call the function and use the returned value

Y = addTwo(14)
Z = y*3
print(“(14+2)*3 = ”, Z)

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The pass Statement
• Function definitions cannot be empty, but if you for some reason, have a function definition
with no content, put in the pass statement to avoid getting error.
• Pass statement also use as place holder for future code.

Example #pass
def myfunc ( ):

pass

#call a function that do nothing

myfunc()

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Example
• Question: Create a function to calculate area of circle with given radius as input. Create another
function to print the info of a circle, given the radius and area as input. Call these functions with
suitable arguments.
#import math library to get PI value
import math Modify the codes to so that it can get the input of radius from
user and do all required operation 3 times in a loop.
#define function
def calculateArea ( radius ):
“This function calculate area of a circle from given radius”
area = math.pi * radius *radius
return area

def printInfo ( radius, area ):

“This function print the info of circle with given parameters”
print(“Area of circle with radius {} cm is {:0.2f} sq.cm”.
Format(radius, area))
#call a function
r = 12
printInfo(r, calculateArea(r))

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Exercise
#Create a function name my_function

_______________________________________________
Exercise 1
print(“Hello”)

#Write a statement to execute my_function in Exercise 1

_______________________________________________
Exercise 2

#Inside a function with two parameters, print the first parameter.

def my_function(fname, lname):

print(________________) Exercise 3
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Exercise
#return the value of x+5
def calc(x):

__________________________________ Exercise 4

#Create an arbitrary argument function that will print all given arguments

def printArgs(____________):
____________________
________________________
Exercise 5
printArgs(23, 34, 45)

#The second parameter of this function has a default value of 5

Def fun(________________):
print(x,y) Exercise 6
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Exercise
1. Create a function named myfun that accepts 1 parameter value, x.

2. Inside the function, return the value of 20% of x.

3. Call the function, giving the value of 43.5 as an input.

4. Print the return result.

5. Example output:
20% of 43.5 is 8.7

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Exercise
1. Create a function named getGrade that can return the grade of a user. Given the mark
Mark Grade
≥80 A
60-79 B
40-59 C
≤39 F

2. Get input from 4 users to get their name and marks.

3. For each user, call the getGrade function to get their grades, provided the marks
4. Example output:
5. Hi Adam. Your grade is B

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Exercise
1. Create a list named myList with the value of 5,3,6,7,2.
2. Create a function named double. This function accepts a list as a parameter. It will calculate the
double amount of each given number in the list, then print the result.
3. Call this function by giving mylist as arguments.

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Exercise
1. Create a function named calcArea that can calculate and return the area of a rectangle, given
the width and length of rectangle.
2. Create another function named calcVolume that will return the value of a cuboid’s volume,
given the area and height
The formula for cuboid’s volume is:
CuboidVolume = RectangleArea * Height

3. Call these functions accordingly to print the information of a cuboid

4. example output:
width :15
length : 20
height : 10
rectangle area : 300
cuboid volume : 3000

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