On Nov 13, 4:53 pm, Terry Reedy wrote: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > >> I have yet to see any reasonable definition of a Python >> value in the Python docs or elsewhere, despite the fact >> that a value is one of the three defining characteristics >> of an object, a central concept in Python. > > I noticed too. My try: > > The value of an object is the information that the object represents (or > that is stored with the object) that the interpreter uses to compute the > value of a new object when you use the object in an expression. For > number objects, the number value. For collection objects, the objects > collected. For functions, the signature and function performed when called. > > How is that?
I am starting with the idea that "value" is what we call whatever it is that is the difference between, for example, the objects int(3) and int(4). While your definition seems to be saying something similar it does not seem very precise. How would I use your definition to answer the following questions? * How does an object get a value? * Can I create an object that has a value that is the same as int(3) without somehow using an int(3) object in its construction? * Do all objects have values? (Ignore the Python docs if necessary.) * What is the value of object()? * Does an object's behavior (methods) affect its value? * If two objects have different unrelated types (i.e. not subclassed), are their values necessarily different (regardless of how they print, or act when used in an expression)? * What if they aren't unrelated but one is a sub- class of the other? * Can one completely hide an object's value by overriding methods? * Can two objects have the same value, even if the methods of one have been overridden to hide it's value as completely as possible? I wonder if all values come, directly or indirectly, from "valued objects" created in the C-API? Or perhaps value is some sort of useful but fundamentally undefinable concept that disappears when looked at too closely, leaving behind only state and behavior? -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
