You might be wondering what in the world an “evaluation function” is, and why it’s so ***** important. Let me break it down for you. An evaluation function is a fancy way of saying a function that takes another function as input and returns its output when given some specific arguments.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Who needs an evaluation function? Can’t we just call the original function directly?” And to that, bro, I say this: yes, technically you can do that. But where’s the fun in that? Evaluation functions add a whole new level of complexity and excitement to your code!
Let me give you an example. Let’s say we have two functions: `square` and `cube`. The `square` function takes one argument, multiplies it by itself, and returns the result. The `cube` function also takes one argument, but instead of squaring it, it cubes it (because why not?).
Here’s what our functions might look like:
# Defining the square function
def square(x): # Function that takes in one argument
return x ** 2 # Returns the square of the argument
# Defining the cube function
def cube(x): # Function that takes in one argument
return x ** 3 # Returns the cube of the argument
Now let’s say we want to call both of these functions with the same argument, but instead of calling them directly, we want to use an evaluation function. This is where things get really exciting!
Here’s what our evaluation function might look like:
# Here is the context before the script:
# Now let's say we want to call both of these functions with the same argument, but instead of calling them directly, we want to use an evaluation function. This is where things get really exciting!
# Here's what our evaluation function might look like:
# Here is the script:
# Define the evaluate function, which takes in a function as an argument
def evaluate(func):
# Define the inner_function, which takes in a parameter x
def inner_function(x):
# Call the input function with the parameter x and return the result
return func(x)
# Return the inner_function
return inner_function
# The purpose of this script is to create an evaluation function that can be used to call other functions with the same argument. This allows for more flexibility and efficiency in code.
# The evaluate function takes in a function as an argument and returns the inner_function, which will be used to call the input function with the given parameter.
# The inner_function takes in a parameter x and calls the input function with that parameter, returning the result.
So, let’s say we want to call the `square` and `cube` functions with an argument of 5. Instead of calling them directly like this:
# The following script calls the `square` and `cube` functions with an argument of 5 and prints the results.
# Define the `square` function to calculate the square of a number
def square(x):
return x ** 2 # Use the exponent operator to calculate the square
# Define the `cube` function to calculate the cube of a number
def cube(x):
return x ** 3 # Use the exponent operator to calculate the cube
# Call the `square` function with an argument of 5 and assign the result to `result1`
result1 = square(5)
# Call the `cube` function with an argument of 5 and assign the result to `result2`
result2 = cube(5)
# Print the result of the `square` function
print("Square:", result1)
# Print the result of the `cube` function
print("Cube:", result2)
We can use our evaluation function to call both functions with the same argument, and then print out the results:
# Define a function to evaluate other functions
def evaluate(func):
# This function takes in a function as an argument and returns a new function
# that calls the original function with the same argument
def inner_func(arg):
# This inner function takes in an argument and calls the original function with that argument
return func(arg)
# Return the inner function
return inner_func
# Define a function to calculate the square of a number
def square(num):
# This function takes in a number and returns its square
return num ** 2
# Define a function to calculate the cube of a number
def cube(num):
# This function takes in a number and returns its cube
return num ** 3
# Use the evaluate function to call both square and cube functions with the same argument
evaluated_square = evaluate(square)
evaluated_cube = evaluate(cube)
# Calculate the square and cube of 5 using the evaluated functions
result1 = evaluated_square(5)
result2 = evaluated_cube(5)
# Print out the results
print("Square:", result1)
print("Cube:", result2)
# Output:
# Square: 25
# Cube: 125
By using an evaluation function, we’ve added a whole new level of complexity and excitement to our code. Who needs boring old functions when you can use evaluation functions instead?
In all seriousness though, evaluation functions are actually quite useful in certain situations. They allow us to abstract away the details of how a function is implemented, which makes it easier to test and debug our code. Plus, they’re just plain fun! So go ahead, give them a try and see what kind of crazy things you can do with your Python functions!