CODEWITHSUNDEEP
functionvariablesparameterslanguage-agnostic
GoatsWearHats
GoatsWearHats

Reputation: 272

Naming parameters the same as the variable passed to them?

Are there any rules (or will I run into any problems) if I name the parameters of a function the same as the variable I will pass into them? For example in Python:

def foo(param):
    pass

param = 2

foo(param)

In the fairly limited programming I've done, I have not ran into any problems doing this. Will I get problems in certain languages? Is this okay to do, or is it a practice to be avoided?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 72

Answers (1)

deceze
deceze

Reputation: 522321

The "problem" in this particular case is that the function parameter name will shadow the outer param variable; i.e. you cannot (implicitly) refer to the global param anymore because inside your function param is defined as a local variable.

But, this is really as it should be. Your function should only worry about the parameters it declares locally, not about implicit global variables. Conversely, a caller of a function should not have to worry about anything that goes on inside a function. Naming a variable the same as a parameter to a function is of no consequence to the caller, and should be of no consequence to the function itself.

So, no, there's absolutely no issue here.

Upvotes: 2

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