Why and how are Python functions hashable?

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It’s nothing special. As you can see if you examine the unbound __hash__ method of the function type:

>>> def f(): pass
...
>>> type(f).__hash__
<slot wrapper '__hash__' of 'object' objects>

the of 'object' objects part means it just inherits the default identity-based __hash__ from object. Function == and hash work by identity. The difference between id and hash is normal for any type that inherits object.__hash__:

>>> x = object()
>>> id(x)
40145072L
>>> hash(x)
2509067

You might think __hash__ is only supposed to be defined for immutable objects, and you’d be almost right, but that’s missing a key detail. __hash__ should only be defined for objects where everything involved in == comparisons is immutable. For objects whose == is based on identity, it’s completely standard to base hash on identity as well, since even if the objects are mutable, they can’t possibly be mutable in a way that would change their identity. Files, modules, and other mutable objects with identity-based == all behave this way.

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