Programmatically creating functions

creating_functions.py

# This could be called a "function factory".
# It is a function that creates, then returns, new functions.
def generic_site_fn(url_template):
    # Define an inner function ...
    def generic_site_submit(url):
        generic_site_url = url_template.format(url=url)
        requests.get(generic_site_url)
    # ... that is returned by the factory function.
    return generic_site_submit

# These variables become functions.
site1_submit = generic_site_fn('http://site1.com/?page={url}')
site2_submit = generic_site_fn('http://site2.com/submit/?page={url}')

# The above is basically the same as doing this.
# The above is much more readable as far as its intent,
# and much more scalable when you add more to the list.
def site1_submit(url):
    url_template = 'http://site1.com/?page={url}'
    generic_site_url = url_template.format(url=url)
    requests.get(generic_site_url)
def site2_submit(url):
    url_template = 'http://site2.com/submit/?page={url}'
    generic_site_url = url_template.format(url=url)
    requests.get(generic_site_url)

# Example of using individual functions.
url = 'http://mysite.com/mypage.html'
site1_submit(url)
site2_submit(url)

# Let's say we don't care about the individual names.
# We want to just put a bunch of functions in a list.
site_submit_fns = []

# For these generic sites, just convert a list of strings ...
generic_url_templates = [
    'http://site1.com/?page={url}',
    'http://site2.com/submit/?url={url}',
]
# ... to a list of functions using those strings as URL templates.
site_submit_fns += [generic_site_fn(url_template) for url_template in generic_url_templates]

# You might add other customized functions to the list here
@site_submit_fns.append
def custom_submit(url):
    # ... code for custom submit process ...
    # ...

# Now loop over the list of functions.
url = 'http://mysite.com/mypage.html'
for site_submit in site_submit_fns:
    site_submit(url)