On Sat, Jan 9, 2010 at 07:28, Alan Gauld <alan.ga...@btinternet.com> wrote: > > "Richard D. Moores" <rdmoo...@gmail.com> wrote >> >> to be put in a function. For convenience sake, I've put this new >> function inside the one that calls it. >> >> Question 1: Is this bad practice? It works fine that way, but.. > > No, but there are some issues to consider. > Denis has addressed some but one other is... > > Reuse: by hiding the function inside the outer one it means it can only ever > be used inside that function.
That's OK. It's very specific to the enclosing function. > It may be better to have it as a module level > function - even if you use the _prefix to limit its use outside the module. > >> Question 2: If the answer to Q1 is no, is there a standard place to >> put a function inside of another function? Is it standard to have it >> the first line of the function? I've put mine at the point where it >> would be called, mainly as a reminder to myself. > > Top of the function is best because as Denis says it only gets defined once > per function call. If you are really paranoid and the function only gets > used in exceptional cases then you could define it at the point of use but > in that case you probably don't need a function at all! I moved it to the top. But since writing it I debugged and edited the script so that the small function is used in only one case. So you're right, I don't need it as a function at all. Thanks, Alan. Right on as usual. Dick _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org To unsubscribe or change subscription options: http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
