Torsten Mohr wrote:
I still wonder why a concept like "references" was not implemented in Python. I think it is (even if small) an overhead to wrap an object in a list or a dictionary.
Because Python uses a fundamentally different concept for variable names than C/C++/Java (and most other static languages). In those languages, variables can be passed by value or by reference; neither term really applies in Python. (Or, if you prefer, Python always passes by value, but those values *are* references.) Python doesn't have lvalues that contain rvalues; Python has names that are bound to objects. Passing a parameter just binds a new name (in the called function's namespace) to the same object.
Point of clarification: Java objects (but not Java primitive types like ints or doubles) work almost identically to Python objects -- you can basically think of them as references being passed by value. There's no way to pass by reference in Java (even for Java primitive types).
Steve -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
