anything like C++ references?

[Erik Max Francis]

David McNab wrote:

> In Python, basic types like strings and numbers are a weird exception to
> the 'everything is an object' rule.
> 
> When you pass any other object in a function, the function gets a ref to
> that object.
> 
> But when you pass a string or numeric object, the whole thing (not a ref)
> gets passed.


This is completely incorrect.  On the contrary, builtin types are 
handled exactly uniformly in Python.  The only difference here is that 
the builtin types that you've listed, along with some others, are 
immutable, so you cannot change them if you have a reference to them.

Contrast this to, say, Java, where there really is a solid distinction 
between builtin fundamental types, like int and long, and actual object 
types, derived from java.lang.Object, which are all passed by reference. 
Python doesn't make this distinction.


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