200-901 Software Development and Design Practice Question
A Python function is defined as:
def process(*args, **kwargs):
return sum(args) + kwargs.get('offset', 0)What is the result of process(1, 2, 3, offset=10)?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
16
*args captures positional arguments as tuple (1,2,3), sum is 6, kwargs dict includes {'offset':10}, .get returns 10, total 16.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
6
Why it's wrong here
The positional arguments 1, 2 and 3 are captured by *args, so sum(args) equals 6. The keyword argument offset=10 is captured by **kwargs, and kwargs.get('offset', 0) returns 10. The function therefore returns 6 + 10 = 16, not 6.
- ✓
16
Why this is correct
The `*args` parameter collects the positional arguments 1, 2 and 3 into a tuple, which `sum()` totals to 6. The `**kwargs` parameter collects `offset=10` into a dictionary, and `kwargs.get('offset', 0)` retrieves 10. Adding 6 and 10 returns 16.
- ✗
Error
Why it's wrong here
No error occurs: *args collects the positional values 1, 2 and 3, while **kwargs collects offset=10 as a dictionary entry. sum(args) yields 6 and kwargs.get('offset', 0) yields 10, so the call returns 16. An error would require a missing required parameter or a type mismatch.
- ✗
10
Why it's wrong here
The function sums positional arguments (1+2+3=6) then adds the offset keyword value of 10, giving 16, not 10. Returning 10 would require args to sum to zero, or offset to be ignored entirely. The kwargs.get pattern is designed precisely to fold named options into the total, so the offset must be counted.
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