How Does Beginner Python Tutorial 84 - Arguments and Parameters Work?

A function is like a robot that needs instructions to do its job, and arguments are those instructions.

Imagine you have a friend who loves to draw. Every time you ask them to draw something, they need to know what to draw. If you say "Draw a cat," they make a cat. If you say "Draw a dog," they make a dog. The words "cat" and "dog" are like arguments, they tell your friend what to do.

In Python, when we write a function, we can give it parameters, which are like the spaces where arguments go. Think of parameters as the empty boxes on a recipe card, you fill them in with real ingredients (the arguments) when you use the recipe.

For example:

def draw_picture(shape):
 print("Drawing a", shape)

Here, shape is a parameter. When we call draw_picture("cat"), "cat" becomes the argument, and it fills in the box for shape.

So functions use parameters to receive arguments, like your friend uses instructions to know what to draw.

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Examples

A function called add takes two numbers, like 3 and 4, and returns their sum (7). The numbers are the arguments, and the names inside the function (a and b) are the parameters.
When you call a function, the values passed to it are called arguments, and the variables that receive them are called parameters.
Imagine you have a function named greet, which takes a name. When you write greet('Alice'), 'Alice' is an argument, and the parameter inside the function might be called name.

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Categories: Science · Python· Arguments· Parameters