Python - Store function definition for later use

Question

I have an app running with many visualisations which are using bokeh. I have defined a function for each visualisation.

For new visualisations, is there a way that -

• I write the visusalisation function somewhere else e.g. jupyter notebook
• Store this function somehow in database or files, like we can do in javascript
• Use eval() to run this function later

Can you please point me a direction? I tried lambda functions but that's single line while my functions can be more complex.

In case you need something, please put in comments :)

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Okay, I got the answer. Python Pickles - https://docs.python.org/3/library/pickle.html

No Need to use eval().

A very basic and simple example of it.

import pickle

def calculations(a, b):
    c = a + b
    print('Addition is ', c)
    return c

fun_def_str = pickle.dumps(calculations)

cal = pickle.loads(fun_def_str)

result = cal(5,6) # Prints - Addition is 11

print(result) # Outputs: 11

I hope this helps someone :)