Yes, Danny - that makes sense. I was getting hung up how to handle the parens in this part
dict['some'](thing) all clear now. :-) On Apr 7, 2005 4:40 PM, Danny Yoo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > On Thu, 7 Apr 2005, Luke Jordan wrote: > > > I am looking for a little clarification of how exactly this would work. > > > > 1. How do I associate a function to a dict key? > > Hi Luke, > > We're probably already familiar of values like numbers and strings, and > how to give them names with variables: > > ###### > >>> number = 42 > >>> name = "luke" > >>> number > 42 > >>> name > 'luke' > ###### > > 'number' is a name that refers to the value 42, and 'name' is a name (Doh! > I must use a better variable name next time...) that refers to the value > "luke". > > And we also already know how to make functions and to call them: > > ###### > >>> def square(x): > ... return x * x > ... > >>> square(42) > 1764 > ###### > > But what happens if we just say "square" at the interpreter? > > ###### > >>> square > <function square at 0x40300b1c> > ###### > > The value of 'square' is a function value. > > And just like any other value, we can assign it to another name: > > ###### > >>> anotherNameForSquare = square > >>> anotherNameForSquare(16) > 256 > ###### > > And just like any other value, we can use it as a dictionary value: > > ###### > >>> operators = {'^2': square} > >>> operators['^2'] > <function square at 0x40300b1c> > >>> operators['^2'](4) > 16 > ###### > > Does this make sense so far? Please feel free to ask more questions about > this. Best of wishes! > > -- "Scalpel....blood bucket....priest....next patient." _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor