Let's Talk About Lambda Functions!

[Jeremy Bowers]

On Fri, 26 Jul 2002 16:18:56 -0500, Alex Martelli wrote:

> Robb Shecter wrote:
> 
>> But to really answer you - I like lambdas and think lambdas can add
>> clarity because their scope directly reflects their 'scope'.  (Make
>> sense?)
> 
> Sorry, not to me.  Take a typical bug sometimes posted here, such as:
> 
> for word in 'fee fie foo fum'.split():
>     Button(frame, command=lambda: print word)
> 
> The poster is typically nonplusses that all buttons print 'fum'.

Speaking as one who recently posted this, what's the alternative?

for word in 'fee fie foo fum'.split():
    def printThing():
        print word
    Button(frame, printThing)

doesn't work any better, you still need

for word in 'fee fie foo fum'.split():
    def printThing(word = word):
        print word
    Button(frame, printThing)

Lambda wart, or just scoping wart in general?

(And I'll still take the lambda form; the def statement feels wrong here.)