nested scopes clarification

[Terry Reedy]

"Erik Price" <eprice at ptc.com> wrote in message
news:mailman.1046127742.25392.python-list at python.org...
> Hi,
>
> I'm reading "Python Essential Reference 2nd ed" by David Beazley,
and
> have encountered the topic of Python's nested scopes in functions,
and
> the lack thereof in Python 2.0 or earlier.  I was hoping someone
could
> clarify this for me.
>
> The book gives this example:
>
> def bar():
>    x = 10
>    def spam():
>      print 'x is ', x
>    while x > 0:
>      spam()
>      x -= 1

This now runs just fine:
>>> bar()
x is  10
x is  9
x is  8
x is  7
x is  6
x is  5
x is  4
x is  3
x is  2
x is  1

> Beazley writes:  "In this case, when the nested function spam()
> executes, its global namespace is the same as the global namespace
for
> bar(), the module in which functions is defined.

This much is still true.

>  As a result, spam() is unable to resolve any symbols in the
namespace
> of bar() and fails with  NameError."

This statement is now obsolete.

>  Is that another way of saying that Python puts all of its function
> declarations into the same scope in pre-2.1 Pythons?

No.  spam is in the local scope of bar, and has its own local scope.
Reread the still-true statement, or go to current ref manual.

Terry J. Reedy