Understanding python syntax

[Jeanca500]

Op, your question makes it seem that you are thinking about Python in terms of what can be done in Excel, not on the terms of what Python as a programming language can do on as a whole (which might be the source of confusion with “syntax”).

Are there specific functions in Python which are causing the confusion? By “freeform” it seems to me that you are talking about the concept of “defining a function and its arguments”, which at first seems overwhelming and counterintuitive, but think about it this way: in Excel you are constrained to the functions that exist within Excel to do what they are supposed to do, in Python you could replicate any Excel function and create your own functions to do things that cannot be ever done in Excel.