How to assign a default constant value in a function declaration

[rzed]

Scott David Daniels <Scott.Daniels at Acm.Org> wrote in
news:4071a362 at nntp0.pdx.net: 

> Marco Bartel wrote:
> 
>> rzed wrote:
>> 
[...]
>>> Do you mean in a context like this?
>>>    class Const:
>>>        someVal=255
>>>        otherVal=0
>>>
>>>    def blip(Const.someVal):
> Should be:
>        def blip(test=Const.someVal):
>> 
>> i checked this out, and i think its the name you were using:
>> Const
> Nope, it is the missing arg name.
> 

Well, not so much that as an incorrectly formed parameter name. I 
can legally do this:
    	def blip( someVal ):
    	    	...

but not this:
    	def blip( x.someVal ):
=> SyntaxError aimed at the dot.

Since there is no argname to assign a value to, "Const.someVal" is 
taken as an identifier for a passed-in parameter. But it seems 
(sensibly enough) that an identifier can't contain a '.' character, 
which evidently is reserved for a qualifier separator (or some such 
term) in that context.

-- 
rzed