anonymous unbound functions in python

I would like to do something like the following:

def add(a, b):
    #some code

def subtract(a, b):
    #some code

operations = [add, subtract]
operations[0]( 5,3)
operations[1](5,3)

In python, is it possible to assign something like a function pointer?

From stackoverflow

• Did you try it? What you wrote works exactly as written. Functions are first-class objects in Python.

  Phil H : "Python is executable pseudocode"

• Python has nothing called pointers, but your code works as written. Function are first-class objects, assigned to names, and used as any other value.

  You can use this to implement a Strategy pattern, for example:

  def the_simple_way(a, b):
      # blah blah
  
  def the_complicated_way(a, b):
      # blah blah
  
  def foo(way):
      if way == 'complicated':
          doit = the_complicated_way
      else:
          doit = the_simple_way
  
      doit(a, b)
  

  Or a lookup table:

  def do_add(a, b):
      return a+b
  
  def do_sub(a, b):
      return a-b
  
  handlers = {
      'add': do_add,
      'sub': do_sub,
  }
  
  print handlers[op](a, b)
  

  You can even grab a method bound to an object:

  o = MyObject()
  f = o.method
  f(1, 2) # same as o.method(1, 2)
  

• Just a quick note that most Python operators already have an equivalent function in the operator module.