Function arguments (in Python for example)

Question

What are [function] arguments? What are they used for?
I started learning Python very recently; I\'m new to programming and I apologize for this basic

Answer 1

The stuff in the parentheses are called arguments. Basically these are variables that you want the function to work with. For example, say you have a function, and you want it to print a word when you call it. With arguments, you can define what that word will be. Here is an example:

def hi(word):
    print word

now, if I do something like this:

hi('Hello!')

it will print:

'Hello!'

hi() gets passed 'Hello!' as a variable called word, and then it prints that word.

Answer 2

Functions would be useless if you can't give them information they should handle.
Arguments are such information.

def GiveMeANumberAndIDuplicateIt(x):
    return x * 2

def DontGiveMeAnythingAtAll():
    return None