Function reference enclosed within angle brackets by dict

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I am a beginning python programmer and trying to learn the nuances in the language. I was trying out the types of objects that can be stored inside the values key in a dict structure. Here goes my sample code:

  myMap = {'a':1,'b':hash}
  def myFun (a,b):
      return a + b
  myMap['c']=myFun
  myMap

And here is the output:

{'a': 1, 'b': <function hash(obj, /)>, 'c': <function __main__.myFun(a, b)>}

I want to know why the function reference is enclosed by angle brackets. I have an inkling that this may be due to some resemblance to C code, but I am not able to get a definite answer. I read somewhere that this indicates that a function is a “special” object. But a more elaborate answer would be very helpful. Thanks for any suggestions.

python-3.x dictionary python
1 Answers

The angle brackets are typically used to denote part of the output that is related not to values themselves but rather to metadata related to the values.

In your case - there is no good way to represent a function in Python without providing its definition. However, <function __main__.myFun(a, b)> is a good way to print information referring to the function by providing its name and parameters.

There is no relation to C code other than maybe some convention but I am not aware of any.

Printing in the console of the representation of values of more complex objects in Python is handled by special ("magic") function __repr__ or __str__ depending on the situation.

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