How to resolve the algorithm Nested function step by step in the Python programming language

Published on 12 May 2024 09:40 PM

How to resolve the algorithm Nested function step by step in the Python programming language

Table of Contents

Problem Statement

In many languages, functions can be nested, resulting in outer functions and inner functions. The inner function can access variables from the outer function. In most languages, the inner function can also modify variables in the outer function.

Write a program consisting of two nested functions that prints the following text. The outer function (called MakeList or equivalent) is responsible for creating the list as a whole and is given the separator ". " as argument. It also defines a counter variable to keep track of the item number. This demonstrates how the inner function can influence the variables in the outer function. The inner function (called MakeItem or equivalent) is responsible for creating a list item. It accesses the separator from the outer function and modifies the counter.

Let's start with the solution:

Step by Step solution about How to resolve the algorithm Nested function step by step in the Python programming language

This Python code defines a function called makeList that takes a separator as input and returns a string containing a list of items with the provided separator inserted between each item. Inside the makeList function, a nested function called makeItem is defined and returned. The makeItem function takes an item as input and returns a string formatted with the item's position in the list, the provided separator, and the item itself, followed by a newline character.

To achieve this, makeItem uses a nonlocal variable named counter that is shared with the outer makeList function. The counter variable is used to keep track of the position of each item in the list. Each time makeItem is called, it increments the counter and formats a string using the current position, the separator, and the provided item.

The makeList function calls makeItem three times to create a list of three items: "first," "second," and "third." The results of these calls are then concatenated into a single string, which is returned by the makeList function.

Finally, the print statement outside the makeList function calls makeList with a separator of ". " and prints the returned string, which will be a numbered list of the three items:

1. first
2. second
3. third

Source code in the python programming language

def makeList(separator):
    counter = 1

    def makeItem(item):
        nonlocal counter
        result = str(counter) + separator + item + "\n"
        counter += 1
        return result

    return makeItem("first") + makeItem("second") + makeItem("third")

print(makeList(". "))


  

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