newbie questions

[Mike Meyer]

Adam DePrince <adam at cognitcorp.com> writes:

> Alright.  Now, as Erik pointed out if you assign to the variable the
> computer will add that to the local name space.  This happens at
> "compile" time (which is right after you hit enter twice at the CPython
> command line.) 
>
> For an example of this:
>
>>>> a = 0
>>>> def b():
> ...     print a
> ...
>>>> def c():
> ...     print a
> ...     a = 1
> ...
>>>> b()
> 0
>>>> c()
> Traceback (most recent call last):
>   File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
>   File "<stdin>", line 2, in c
> UnboundLocalError: local variable 'a' referenced before assignment
>
> In b(), a was taken as being from the line above.  In c, it was from the
> local name space.
>
> So, how do we affect what you want?

I *have* to point out here that you can write c as:

>>> a = 2
>>> def c():
...  global a
...  print a
...  a = 1
... 
>>> c()
2
>>> 

The one (and so far only) place you can declare a variable in Python.

    <mike
-- 
Mike Meyer <mwm at mired.org>			http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/
Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information.