2.1.1.4 Your first program

The print() function

As we said before, a function may have:

• an effect;
• a result.

There's also a third, very important, function component - the argument(s).

Mathematical functions usually take one argument, e.g., sin(x) takes an x, which is the measure of an angle.

Python functions, on the other hand, are more versatile. Depending on the individual needs, they may accept any number of arguments - as many as necessary to perform their tasks. Note: any number includes zero - some Python functions don't need any argument.

print("Hello, World!")

In spite of the number of needed/provided arguments, Python functions strongly demand the presence of a pair of parentheses - opening and closing ones, respectively.

If you want to deliver one or more arguments to a function, you place them inside the parentheses. If you're going to use a function which doesn't take any argument, you still have to have the parentheses.

Note: to distinguish ordinary words from function names, place a pair of empty parentheses after their names, even if the corresponding function wants one or more arguments. This is a standard convention.

The function we're talking about here is print().

Does the print() function in our example have any arguments?

Of course it does, but what are they?