An article to help you understand Python’s higher-order functions

1. What is a higher-order function?

Higher-order function is a very useful function in Python. The so-called higher-order function is a function that can be used to receive another function as a parameter. Such a function is called Higher order functions.

Through case code analysis, we will deepen the concepts step by step.

2. Variables can point to functions

Use Python’s built-in function Take the absolute value function abs() as an example.

Call this function with the following code:

print(abs(-10))

Running result:

#But, what if you only write abs?

print(abs)

Run result:

可见，abs(-10)是函数调用，而abs是函数本身。

要获得函数调用结果，可以把结果赋值给变量：

x = abs(-10)
print(x)

运行结果：

但是，如果把函数本身赋值给变量呢？

f = abs
print(f)

运行结果：

结论：

函数本身也可以赋值给变量，即：变量可以指向函数。

如果一个变量指向了一个函数，那么，可否通过该变量来调用这个函数？

代码验证：

f = abs
print(f(-10))

运行结果：

结果相同，说明变量f现在已经指向了abs函数本身。直接调用abs()函数和调用变量f()完全相同。

三、函数名也是变量

那么函数名是什么呢？函数名其实就是指向函数的变量！对于abs()这个函数，完全可以把函数名abs看成变量，它指向一个可以计算绝对值的函数！

把abs指向其他对象，会有什么情况发生？

abs = 10
print(abs(-10))

运行结果：

代码解析：

把abs指向10后，就无法通过abs(-10)调用该函数了！因为abs这个变量已经不指向求绝对值函数而是指向一个整数10！

当然实际代码绝对不能这么写，这里是为了说明函数名也是变量。要恢复abs函数，请重启Python交互环境。

注：

由于abs函数实际上是定义在builtin模块中的，所以要让修改abs变量的指向在其它模块也生效，要用builtin.abs = 10。

四、传入函数

既然变量可以指向函数，函数的参数能接收变量，那么一个函数就可以接收另一个函数作为参数，这种函数就称之为高阶函数。

一个最简单的高阶函数：

def add(x, y, f):  
  return f(x) + f(y)

当调用add(-5, 6, abs)时，参数x，y和f分别接收-5，6和abs，根据函数定义，可以推导计算过程为：

  x = -5
    y = 6
    f = abs
    f(x) + f(y) == abs(-5) + abs(6) == 11
    return 11


print(add(-5, 6, abs))

用代码验证一下：

print(add(-5, 6, abs))

注：

编写高阶函数，就是让函数的参数能够接收别的函数。

Pass functions as parameters. Such functions are called higher-order functions. Functional programming refers to this highly abstract programming paradigm.

5. Summary

This article is based on the basics of Python and introduces Python The use of higher-order functions in functions. Each section is analyzed through cases and displayed with operation renderings to enable readers to better understand. It focuses on the problem of error reporting when passing in functions in actual operations.

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