In the working world what's the global standard for structuring functions?

Question

Another user told me this is the more correct way to structure the functions:

A program which displays user info (name, age and address).


def details(user_age, user_name, user_address):
    print(f"{user_name} is {user_age} and lives at {user_address}.")


def main():
    user_age, user_name, user_address = int(input("Enter age: ")), input("Enter name: "), input("Address: ")

    details(user_age, user_name, user_address)


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

Compared to:

def details():
    print(f"{user_name} is {user_age} and lives at {user_address}.")


user_age, user_name, user_address = int(input("Enter age: ")), input("Enter name: "), input("Address: ")

details()

Is code dynamic? Are there structure changes on a per project basis? Or is the above code simply the general layout/template for functions?

It is not clear what you are asking or talking about with regards to the structure of your program. You ask, "Or is the above code simply the default layout structure for methods?" but *what layout structure are you talking about*? — juanpa.arrivillaga, Apr 05 '21 at 10:45
What do you mean **exactly**? Saying "the general method layout" tells me no additional information about what you are talking about. — juanpa.arrivillaga, Apr 05 '21 at 10:51
"Another user told me this is the more correct way to structure the methods" compared to what?? — juanpa.arrivillaga, Apr 05 '21 at 10:52
Telusko on YouTube said I should refer to all functions as methods instead. — Michael Goliath, Apr 05 '21 at 11:16

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 05 '21 at 11:29

Two important "things" are different in your two code samples

global variable usage
importability

(1) It is almost always a bad idea to use global variables in your functions. Functions should take all external data they are going to use as parameters, and return all data they produce:

# bad
foo = 42
def add1():
    global foo
    foo += 1

# better
foo = 42
def add1(n):
    return n + 1
foo = add1(foo)

(2) Executing code in global scope (outside a function) will make that code run when you import your file in another module. You generally want to control when your code executes, so always put code into functions. Then use an if __name__ == "__main__: block to execute code when you are running one file:

# bad
foo = 42
def add1(n):
    return n + 1
foo = add1(foo)

# better
FOO = 42   # global variables should be all upper case by convention

def add1(n):
    return n + 1

if __name__ == "__main__":
    FOO = add1(FOO)

In the working world what's the global standard for structuring functions?

A program which displays user info (name, age and address).

1 Answers1