11.9. Glossary
- chatterbox function
- A function which interacts with the user (using
input
or print
) when
it should not. Silent functions that just convert their input arguments into
their output results are usually the most useful ones.
- composition (of functions)
- Calling one function from within the body of another, or using the
return value of one function as an argument to the call of another.
- dead code
- Part of a program that can never be executed, often because it appears
after a
return
statement.
- fruitful function
- A function that yields a return value instead of
None
.
- incremental development
- A program development plan intended to simplify debugging by adding and
testing only a small amount of code at a time.
- None
- A special Python value. One use in Python is that it is returned
by functions that do not execute a return statement with a return argument.
- return value
- The value provided as the result of a function call.
- scaffolding
- Code that is used during program development to assist with development
and debugging. The unit test code that we added in this chapter are
examples of scaffolding.
- temporary variable
- A variable used to store an intermediate value in a complex
calculation.
Next Section - 11.10. Exercises