FAQ: Function Arguments: *args and **kwargs - Function Call Unpacking & Beyond

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This community-built FAQ covers the “Function Call Unpacking & Beyond” exercise from the lesson “Function Arguments: *args and **kwargs”.

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This exercise can be found in the following Codecademy content:

FAQs on the exercise Function Call Unpacking & Beyond

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2

On the exercise example, the function definition use the unpacking operator so I think it was expected to receive a list as argument. But when calling the function the parameter is send using the unpacking operator. Futhermore, the function body have a for loop, so I think no unpacking operator is needed because this loop can iterate over the list sended as parameter of the function. Can anyone explain why is used the unpacking operator in the function definition and in the function call?

num_collection = [3, 6, 9]
 
def power_two(*nums): 
  for num in nums:
    print(num**2)
 
power_two(*num_collection)
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3

You asked why the unpacking operator is used in the function definition and function call. I believe the reason is that this example is showing us how the (*) operator unpacks and packs. The results are the same, and it’s not necessarily more efficient in this case. It’s just demonstrating the unpacking/packing ability.

When we run this function with ‘num’ instead of ‘*num’:

num_collection = [3, 6, 9]
 
def power_two(nums): 
  for num in nums:
    print(num**2)
 
power_two(num_collection)

>>>9
>>>36
>>>91

The results are the same as using *nums.

4

Cool, thanks for the clarification! However, it’s a pretty bad example job by Codecademy if their best example of a use case actually doesn’t need the packing-unpacking feature. It’s does more to confuse than to clarify in my opinion.

All the best :slight_smile:

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