Why use packed *args/**kwargs instead of passing list/dict?

Question

If I don\'t know how many arguments a function will be passed, I could write the function using argument packing:

def add(factor, *nums):
    \"\"\"Add          


        

Answer 1

This is kind of an old one, but to answer @DBrenko's queries about when *args and **kwargs would be required, the clearest example I have found is when you want a function that runs another function as part of its execution. As a simple example:

import datetime

def timeFunction(function, *args, **kwargs):
    start = datetime.datetime.now()
    output = function(*args, **kwargs)
    executionTime = datetime.datetime.now() - start
    return executionTime, output 

timeFunction takes a function and the arguments for that function as its arguments. By using the *args, **kwargs syntax it isn't limited to specific functions.