[Tutor] thesaurus

[Pete Froslie]

so, I've been playing with the functions a bit-- took a little time to get
the hang of them after I started that other mess. Initially, I've done the
opposite suggested here by creating functions without the input values. I do
see the where it will pay off in re-usability that route.. Alan, I'll read
your tutorial on modules and functions.

Things that are arising for me now:

(1)the use of global variables- seems it would be easier to communicate
between functions with 'I/O' values if I understood where the best location
for declaration is..

(2)not sure why this function doesn't work:

word_count = 0 #set up variable to increment through text

def increment(x):
>         return  x+1
>
> increment(word_count)
>


(3) related to strings: Trying a function that will strip unwanted words off
of the url before I bounce it off the website. For instance, I don't need to
search for a, was, is... This is working, but with strange results-- often
it will find an 'a' in the middle of a word and replace it with text and
such.

using rstrip, but with varying results:

#this is the url as a string
> http://words.bighugelabs.com/api/2/e413f24701aa30b7d441ca43a64317be/A/
>
> thesaurus = string.rstrip(url(),"/A/") + '/' # stripping the end off and
> re-adding the '/'
>

The url function btw:

def url():
>     fin = open("journey_test.txt", "r")
>     response = re.split(r"[/|/,\n, , ,:\"\"\.?,)(\-\<>\[\]'\r']",
> fin.read())
>     thesaurus = API_URL + response[word_number] + '/'  #API_URL is
> established at the start of the code
>     return thesaurus
>

Pete F


On Sun, Jul 12, 2009 at 4:00 AM, Alan Gauld <alan.gauld at btinternet.com>wrote:

>
> "Pete Froslie" <froslie at gmail.com> wrote
>
>  This seems the basic form for a function:
>>
>> *def** hello*():
>>
>>>    *print* "Hello World!"
>>>    *return*
>>>
>>
> That is a very limited form that encourages bad practice. The more
> general form is:
>
> def aFunction(inputValue1, inputValue2,...):
>     # do some processing here
>     return output_value1, outputValue2....
>
> By adding the input and output values we make the function
> independant of its immediate surroundings and therefore
> more easily reusable across different programs.
>
> We can  then call it like:
>
> x,y = aFunction(a,b)
>
>  I assume each part that can be separated will be done so in this format at
>>>
>> the start of the code; consequently, allowing me to call 'hello' later
>> when
>> I need it. Does this also mean that I will be able to call those functions
>> separately later when I import 'thesaurus.py' into a new code also?
>>
>
> Exactly. The first benefit of functions is in encapsulating parts of your
> program and providing structure which makles it easier to read but
> the real power of functions is in making those blocks of code available
> to other programs too.
>
> Read my tutorial topic on Moduules and Functions more information.
>
> --
> Alan Gauld
> Author of the Learn to Program web site
> http://www.alan-g.me.uk/
>
> _______________________________________________
> Tutor maillist  -  Tutor at python.org
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
>



-- 
Pete Froslie
617.314.0957
http://www.froslie.net
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