What is function overloading in Python?

What is function overloading in Python?

Function overloading allows multiple functions with the same name but different parameters. Python doesn't support it directly, but we can achieve similar behavior using default arguments or variable-length arguments.

Can you give me an example of function overloading?

Sure! Here's an example using default arguments:

def add(a, b=0):
    return a + b

print(add(5))    # Outputs: 5
print(add(5, 3)) # Outputs: 8

What about using variable-length arguments?

Great question! You can use *args to accept a variable number of arguments:

def add(*args):
    return sum(args)

print(add(1, 2))          # Outputs: 3
print(add(1, 2, 3, 4))    # Outputs: 10

Are there any libraries that support function overloading?

Yes, libraries like NumPy and functools can help with function overloading by providing decorators and other utilities.