Aahz wrote:
In article <mailman.952.1235850376.11746.python-l...@python.org>,
<rdmur...@bitdance.com> wrote:
I think this is the key point. I am an experienced Python programmer,
and I had to think long and hard about what you were saying, Mark, in
order to understand how it applied to Python. I think this means that
your model and/or your level of abstraction is not "natural" when trying
to understand Python programs, and I think I may have figured out why.
Good job! I'll just add one little bit to your excellent rebuttal:
Assignment in Python changes a mapping (mutates a namespace object). In
this case the mapping being changed is the local function's namespace
mapping. We can't affect the caller's namespace mapping, because (in
this function) we don't have access to the caller's namespace object.
So I would diagram it like this:
y (in global env.) -----> 'virgin'
x (in function 'test') ----> 'clobbered'
Although you later make clear that this model works well with lists, too,
I personally find it easier to separate the concept of "name" (which is
strictly the set of legal Python identifiers) with the more general
concept of "target". Consider this:
L = [1, 2, 3]
L[1:1] = ['foo', 'bar']
What do you call ``L[1:1]``?
I call that a collection slot.
I call that a target (and in fact, so do the Python docs).
Targets encompass both names and slots.
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