> You should also think long and hard about *why* you want to return a
> value from a function by modifying an input parameter instead of just
> using the return statement. The "return by modifying an input parameter"
> approach comes from C where that's the only way to return more than one
> value from a function. In Python, no such crutch is necessary or
> desirable.
>
Nobody mentioned the term for this. When a function changes its
parameters or its environment, then it is called a "side effect" and
generally it is considered harmful in all modern languages. ("Function"
here refers to a piece of code that is used to calculate one or more
values and provide these values to the caller.)
So you are trying to create a function that has a side effect. You
should not do this, unless you have a really good reason.
Regards,
Laszlo
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