On 8/23/2011 7:59 AM, smith jack wrote:
i have heard that function invocation in python is expensive,
That comes into play when chosing between
list2 = map(lambda x: 2*x, list1) # versus
list2 = [2*x for x in list1]
It also comes into play when choosing between looping with recursion
(function calls) versus looping with iteration (while/for). In Python,
the iteration is faster, while some functional languages omit looping
syntax constructs and perhaps auto-translate some recursion to iteration.
but makelots of functions are a good design habit in many other languages,
Same for Python, with the exceptions noted above of avoiding trivial
one-use functions when there is an alternative.
is there any principle when writing python function?
Same as usual. Functions define new words and create new abstractions
than encapsulate a unit of computation.
for example, how many lines should form a function?
1 to many, as long as the 1 is more complex than 2*x, unless the trivial
function is required for a callback. I doubt the stdlib has many defs
longer than 100 lines.
Try the following: complex enough that the function call overhead does
not matter; simple enough to be understood as a unit.
I just came up with the following hypothesis: the complexity of a
function is related to the number of *different* functions used to
define it:
x = a*b + c/d - e**f
is more complex (harder to understand) than
x = a + b + c + d + e + f
For this purpose, different statememts count as functions (and indeed,
they translate to bytecode functions. So:
for i in iterable:
if f(i):
print i
is more complex than
a = 1
b = 2
c = 3
d = 4
People can retain at most about 10 different things in short term
memory. So perhaps 10 different 'functions' within a function, or at
least a commented block, is enough.
--
Terry Jan Reedy
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