* Steven D'Aprano:
On Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:25:23 +0000, Arnaud Delobelle wrote:
John Posner <jjpos...@optimum.net> writes: [...]
x = s[0]
[...]
assigns the name *x* to the object that *s[0]* refers to
s[0] does not refer to an object, it *is* an object (once evaluated of
course, otherwise it's just a Python expression).
Precisely. Treated as an expression, that is, as a string being evaluated
by the compiler, we would say that it *refers to* an object (unless
evaluation fails, in which case it refers to nothing at all). But treated
as whatever you get after the compiler is done with it, that is, post-
evaluation, we would say that it *is* an object.
This subtle distinction is essentially the difference between a label and
the thing that is labeled.
The main differences between a pure functional language where that view can hold
and be reasonable, and a language like Python, are that
* Python assignments change which object a name refers to, /at runtime/.
- Name binding is run time action, not a compile time action.
Without run time binding names couldn't be reassigned. s = 1; s = 2
* Some Python objects are modifiable (a.k.a. mutable).
- This is particularly important when two or more names refer to the
same object and that object is modified.
That is, a simple-minded transfer of concepts from pure functional programming
to Python breaks down in these cases[1].
I hope this explanation of exactly where the functional programming enthusiasts
here go wrong can be of help to readers of the thread, although I've given up
hope on those holding the functional programming view (since I'm only human, and
even the Gods contend in vain against that sort of thing).
Cheers & hth.,
- Alf
Notes:
[1] Steven D'Aprano's focus on compilation rather than execution mainly ignores
the first point, that a name in given a statement in a loop, say, can refer to
different objects in different loop iterations. Happily the Python language
specification explains binding as a run-time action. Binding is not a compile
time action in Python, it is a run-time action, and can bind a given name in a
given statement within the same routine execution, to different objects, and the
language specification of course uses the phrase "refers to" to explain the
situation after a run time binding.
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