Easiest way to pass a calculation method to a function

Question

I want to pass different calculation methods to a function, for example:

def example_func(method='mean'):
    result = np.+method([1,2,3,4])

What is the easiest and most fruitful way to do this (besides maybe a dictionary....)

functions are first-class objects. see e,g, http://stackoverflow.com/questions/803616/passing-functions-with-arguments-to-another-function-in-python — Corley Brigman, Sep 23 '15 at 14:20

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 23 '15 at 14:21

You can pass the function object itself, then call it within your function

import numpy as np

def do_func(f, arg):
    return f(arg)

>>> do_func(np.mean, [1,2,3,4])
2.5

You can see that the argument in the example above (f) is itself a function, so you can call it with whatever you want inside your function.

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 23 '15 at 14:23

2

As written, you can do

getattr(np, method)([1,2,3,4])

or

from operator import methodcaller
f = methodcaller(method, [1,2,3,4])
f(np)

or just pass the function directly into the other function. Functions are first-class objects.

answered Sep 23 '15 at 14:23

roippi

2 Answers2