A function definition introduces the function name in the current symbol table. The value of the function name has a type that is recognized by the interpreter as a user-defined function.

>>> something = 1
>>> type(something)
<type 'int'>
>>> def something():
...     pass
...
>>> type(something)
<type 'function'>
>>> something = []
>>> type(something)
<type 'list'>

This value can be assigned to another name which can then also be used as a function. This serves as a general renaming mechanism:

>>> fib
<function fib at 10042ed0>
>>> f = fib
>>> f(100)
0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 89

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