*args (Variable Positional Arguments)
*args allows you to pass a variable number of positional arguments to a function. It’s useful when you’re unsure about the exact number of arguments that will be passed to a function.
def calculate_total(*args):
total = sum(args)
return total
print(calculate_total(1, 2, 3, 4)) # Output: 10
print(calculate_total(5, 10, 15)) # Output: 30
Output:
10
30
In the above example, the calculate_total function takes any number of arguments and calculates their sum.
The *args parameter collects all the positional arguments into a tuple, which can then be iterated over or operated upon.
Data Engineering Application:
In data engineering, you might encounter situations where you need to process varying numbers of data inputs, such as aggregating metrics from different sources or handling different numbers of data points in a transformation pipeline.
Using *args, you can create flexible functions that accommodate these varying inputs without explicitly defining each parameter.
Why use *args and **kwargs used in Data Engineering?
In data engineering, *args and **kwargs are often used in Python functions to handle variable numbers of arguments and keyword arguments, respectively. They provide flexibility when you’re not sure how many arguments or keyword arguments will be passed to a function.