[Python-Dev] Use an empty def as a lambda (original) (raw)

Ben Finney ben+python at benfinney.id.au
Sat Sep 21 21:56:02 CEST 2013

Westley Martínez <anikom15 at gmail.com> writes:

My reasoning is that we use class to make classes, lambda to make lambda functions, and def to make--well not defs--functions, which doesn't really make sense to me.

Your reasoning is flawed. There is no such thing in Python as a “lambda function”.

Python has functions. It doesn't matter whether you use a ‘lambda’ or ‘def’ statement to create it, there's no resulting difference in the type of the object. It is a function.

So: you make a class with a ‘class’ statement; you make a function using either a ‘def’ statement or a ‘lambda’ expression. There is no third type of object being discussed here.

-- \ “Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the | `\ occurrence of the improbable.” —Henry L. Mencken | o_) | Ben Finney

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