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Improve argument/parameter documentation (issue #15990).

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This commit adds "parameter" to the glossary, improves and consolidates the
"argument" glossary entry, and adds a question to the FAQ on the difference
between arguments and parameters.
This commit is contained in:
Chris Jerdonek 2012-11-28 02:29:33 -08:00
parent 14b04cd350
commit c2a7fd60e1
3 changed files with 99 additions and 18 deletions
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21
Doc/faq/programming.rst
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@ -313,6 +313,27 @@ calling another function by using ``*`` and ``**``::
g(x, *args, **kwargs)
.. _faq-argument-vs-parameter:
What is the difference between arguments and parameters?
--------------------------------------------------------
:term:`Parameters <parameter>` are defined by the names that appear in a
function definition, whereas :term:`arguments <argument>` are the values
actually passed to a function when calling it. Parameters define what types of
arguments a function can accept. For example, given the function definition::
def func(foo, bar=None, **kwargs):
pass
*foo*, *bar* and *kwargs* are parameters of ``func``. However, when calling
``func``, for example::
func(42, bar=314, extra=somevar)
the values ``42``, ``314``, and ``somevar`` are arguments.
How do I write a function with output parameters (call by reference)?
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