Problem with assigning variables of type List

[Greg Ewing]

Donn Cave wrote:

> To apply the terms call-by-value and call-by-reference to Python,
> we need to use different definitions of "value", "argument", "change"?
> 
> So, might you agree that the exercise is unlikely to help someone
> understand Python better, in the common case?


Yes. To your average newbie, who doesn't already have
a very clear idea of exactly what call-by-value and
call-by-reference mean, using those terms doesn't
help.

Better to just explain how it works.

The problem is that said newbie is likely to seize
upon one of them and use it to try to describe to
some other newbie what sort of calling mechanism
Python uses, thus perpetuating the confusion.

I don't have a solution to that problem. :-(

-- 
Greg Ewing, Computer Science Dept,
University of Canterbury,	
Christchurch, New Zealand
http://www.cosc.canterbury.ac.nz/~greg