function without brackets ?

[Stef Mientki]

If I call a parameterless function without brackets at the end,
the function is not performed, but ...
I don't get an error message ???

Is this normal behavior ?

thanks,
Stef Mientki

[Sebastian 'lunar' Wiesner]

Re: function without brackets ?

Stef Mientki <S.Mientki-nospam@mailbox. kun.nltyped

If I call a parameterless function without brackets at the end,
the function is not performed, but ...

If you omit the brackets, you don't actually call the function. Instead
you get a reference to the function object.

Consider this example:

cwd = os.getcwd()
# cwd now contains a string, denoting the current working directory
func = os.getcwd
# func now contains a reference to the function os.getcwd
print func == os.getcwd # prints True
# you can even call it:
cwd_2 = func()
# cwd_2 now also contains a string with the current directory.
print cwd == cwd_2 # prints True, too

--
Freedom is always the freedom of dissenters.
(Rosa Luxemburg)

[rzed]

Re: function without brackets ?

Stef Mientki <S.Mientki-nospam@mailbox. kun.nlwrote in news:57668
$459bbf95$d443b b3a$16218@news. speedlinq.nl:

If I call a parameterless function without brackets at the end,
the function is not performed, but ...
I don't get an error message ???
>
Is this normal behavior ?
>

Yes, it's normal, but you did not in fact call the function, if you
were using Python. Functions are objects that, for example, can be
passed to other functions. The way to refer to the functions
themselves is to omit the arguments and parentheses. So by simply
stating the name of a function, that's all you've done.

--
rzed

[Carsten Haese]

Re: function without brackets ?

On Wed, 2007-01-03 at 15:37 +0100, Stef Mientki wrote:

If I call a parameterless function without brackets at the end,
the function is not performed, but ...
I don't get an error message ???
>
Is this normal behavior ?

Yes. If you "call" a function without brackets, it's not a call.

Remember that functions are first class objects that can be passed
around like any other object. Hence, Python needs the distinction
between

x = foo() # Assign the *result* of calling foo to x

and

x = foo # Assign the *function* foo itself to x.

You don't get an error message because a function name without
parentheses is a valid expression that refers to that function.

Hope this helps,

Carsten.

[Kay Schluehr]

Re: function without brackets ?


Stef Mientki schrieb:

If I call a parameterless function without brackets at the end,
the function is not performed, but ...
I don't get an error message ???
>
Is this normal behavior ?

Yes, this is perfectly o.k. because each function is a first class
citizen in Python. The difference between foo() and foo is simply that
foo() is the value returned by the function call on foo and foo is a
function object.

Kay

[Stef Mientki]

Re: function without brackets ?

Hope this helps,
>

thanks You all guys,
It's perfectly clear to me now !

cheers,
Stef