bizarre Recursive/class interaction

[Bob Roberts]

> 
> This is a common gotcha.  The default value is evaluated only once
> (not each time the function is called). 

Does this mean that the variable data in 
def __init__(self, data = []):
behaves like a static variable in C/C++?


> 
> In your code, each instance of MyClass uses the same list as
> self.data, so changes to one instance will be reflected in the
> others.  Also -- it will be reflected in the default value for new
> instances.  Hence the assertion failure on the second list you
> create.
> 
> Something like this is probably better:
> 
>     class MyClass(UserList.UserList):
>         def __init__(self, data=None):
>             UserList.UserList.__init__(self, data)
>             if self.data:
>                 print self.data
> 
Why does this work (and it does seem to)?  If each instance only usese
one "data", then why would it matter if the default value is [] or
None?