6.7. Renaming Python’s Functions

The functions abs and int are names. They are variables whose values are a set of statements that achieve a goal. Later on, we’ll know enough code to write abs and int ourselves. The important point right now is that abs and int are names for functions. You can create several names that have the same value. You can think of this like how a person can have both a name and a nickname. In the program below we demonstrate that you can even create new names for Python functions.

absolute = abs print("Absolute value of -5:") print(absolute(-5)) noDecimal = int print("Integer part of of 34.2") print(noDecimal(34.2))

If you add one more line to the above program, print(noDecimal(absolute(-16.789))), what prints?

• -16
• No, absolute will change the negative
• -16.789
• No, the original number will change
• 16.789
• No, noDecimal will remove the decimal part
• 16
• Yes! Absolute will make it positive, and noDecimal will throw away the values after the decimal point leaving just the 16.

Note

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