**kwargs question

[ibreeden]

def some_func(*args, **kwargs):

I liked the example, it was very clear. But as DPaul said, why those asterisks? It doesn't make very clear what is going on. I think he would like to see something like:

def some_func(args=tuple(), kwargs=dict()):

This makes clear what the arguments should be. And we prefer clear programs, don't we?
But then I tried to make it work. It appeared the calls to the function had to be altered:

some_func(('foo',), {'spam':1})   #was: some_func('foo', spam=1)
some_func(('foo', 'bar'),         #was: some_func('foo', 'bar', spam=1, eggs=2)
          {'spam':1, 'eggs':2})
some_func(pos)                    #was: some_func(*pos)
some_func((), keyw)               #was: some_func(**keyw)
some_func(('foo',), keyw)         #was: some_func('foo', **keyw)
some_func(pos, keyw)              #was: some_func(*pos, **keyw)

Then I saw it didn't get much clearer after all. So the asterisks serve a purpose.