In Python Cookbook, one of the authors (I forgot who) consistently used the "L[:]" idiom like below. If the second line simply starts with "L =" (so no "[:]") only the name "L" would be rebound, not the underlying object. That was the authorÅ› explanation as far as I can remember. I do not get that. Why is the "L[:]" idiom more memory-efficient here? How could the increased efficiency be demonstrated?
#Python 2.7.3 (default, Sep 26 2013, 16:38:10) [GCC 4.7.2] on linux2 >>> L = [x ** 2 for x in range(10)] >>> L[:] = ["foo_" + str(x) for x in L] Thanks! Regards, Albert-Jan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list