On 5/9/14 8:34 PM, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
Nobody seems to complain about using the term "assigment" in relation to
Python, despite it meaning something a bit different from what it means
in some other languages, so I don't see anything wrong with using the
term "variable" with the above definition.
What differences in assignment are you referring to?
In any case, the issue is whether or not the misunderstanding leads to
confusion or not.
That's really the question --- regarding the issue of 'variable' and
assignment.
The term 'variable' (assignment) typically means: the LHS (name) of
an assignment where the coder is placing some 'type' (RHS) into a chunk
of memory statically defined, or dynamically malloc'd.
With Python the assignment term 'variable' means: the LHS (name) is
now associated with (bound to) an object (RHS), regardless whether the
object already exists or whether the object is being constructed, nor
what kind or type the object may be. The coder is not concerned with the
memory model, nor address, nor reference.
So for Python variable names are object handles.
I've been reading through the python docs today (the FAQ mostly) and
noting that python has variables BIG TIME as far as the docs go.
marcus
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