200-901 Software Development and Design Practice Question

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

• ✗

  def func(args):

  Why it's wrong here

  A single parameter named args accepts exactly one positional argument, so passing two or more raises a TypeError. Variable positional arguments require the star syntax, which packs extras into a tuple. This is tempting because 'args' is the conventional name for that tuple, but the name alone carries no special meaning; only the asterisk does.

• ✗

  def func(args*):

  Why it's wrong here

  The asterisk must precede the parameter name, so 'args*' is a syntax error at definition time. The valid form is '*args', which collects surplus positional arguments into a tuple. This is tempting because it keeps the familiar 'args' identifier and merely misplaces the star, a common slip when the star's position is not yet firmly memorised.

• ✗

  def func(**kwargs):

  Why it's wrong here

  Double asterisks collect keyword arguments into a dictionary, so '**kwargs' captures named arguments, not positional ones. Positional collection needs a single '*args'. This is tempting because '**kwargs' is the standard idiom for arbitrary arguments, and it would be correct if the question asked about accepting a variable number of keyword arguments.

• ✓

  def func(*args):

  Why this is correct

  Prefixing a parameter with an asterisk, as in *args, collects any number of extra positional arguments into a tuple named args. This is Python's defined syntax for variadic positional parameters, distinct from **kwargs, which gathers keyword arguments into a dictionary.

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