none <""atavory\"@(none)"> writes:
> IIRC, I once saw an explanation how Python doesn't have > "variables" in the sense that, say, C does, and instead has bindings > from names to objects. Does anyone have a link? "Variable" is an abstract concept, and it's a slightly different concept for every programming language. So you're correct to say that they're not like C variables. But putting it that way is no more valid than saying that C doesn't have variables like Python's. If you're teaching it from first principles then I wouldn't start by saying what they're not, if people don't know what C variables are then it doesn't help to say "these Python variables are not like C variables". If they do know about variables in other languages, it might help to say "forget your preconceptions about what a variable is". As you say, in Python variables are essentially names in some kind of lookup table for objects... this is a perfectly reasonable way to try and explain the idea (and is essentially the way it's implemented). Then you have to get into scoping, and the odd gotcha (e.g. contrast assigning to a global variable in local scope with referencing one - with and without a "global" statement). -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
