[Python-Dev] Parrot -- should life imitate satire?

[Jeremy Hylton]

>>>>> "GvR" == Guido van Rossum <guido@zope.com> writes:

  GvR> But in Python, this is not an operation on a at all!  It's an
  GvR> operation on the namespace containing a, and a cannot override
  GvR> it.  I'm sure your VM design can accommodate this, but it
  GvR> points out the fundamental difference between the languages in
  GvR> their ideas of what a "variable" is.  Python has at least two
  GvR> types of namespaces in this context: some namespaces (like
  GvR> module globals) are dictionaries, others (like function locals)
  GvR> have mapped the variable names to an array of object
  GvR> references.

In the future, I expect module namespaces will be implemented more
like function namespaces.  That's the "low-hanging fruit" optimization
idea we've kicked around for a while.  I hope to work on it for 2.3.

This discussion of variables also raises a question for the Perl guys:
Is there a Perl language reference ala the Python reference manual?

Jeremy