title: Taking function inputs as literals, similar to a bash script
body: <p>Does anyone know if there is an analog to the bash script way of taking variables as literal? For example, any way I'd be able to do:</p>
  
  <p><code>type = log</code> or <code>type = sqrt</code></p>
  
  <p>then</p>
  
  <pre><code>var_transformed = np.$type(data)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>which would be literally interpreted as the user being able to specify the function in place of <code>$type</code>?</p>