semi-newbie module namespace confusion

[pnau at sjm.com]

I've stuck my neck out and am in the integration stage of a rather
important project at my company, which wears dot net blinders.  The
program is not too big: I've cranked out 3K lines of code, quite a bit
of which is unit tested, but my eyes are starting to glaze, and now I'm
stuck (and not just my neck :-).  If I can get the show back on the
road and bring it to a conclusion, I'll be able to persuade a lot of
people to look closely at Python (not to mention the job retention
aspect :-).

The main jist of the problem is that I'm trying add data from one
module to a list and a dictionary in another module, and it doesn't
seem to stick over there.

The programs below seem to illustrate the issue.  (The results follow
the programs).
Why are the results different from runs of the two programs?  The
output of nameSpaceTestB.py makes sense to me, but I just don't get why
nameSpaceTestA.py does what it does.

I'm sure the reason is very simple, but I just don't see it.  Please,
can someone shed some light on the issue for me?

Thanks!

~Peter

---------------------------------
nameSpaceTestA.py:
import nameSpaceTestB as NSB

normalQ = [ 37]
abc = 25

def indirect( ) :
   normalQ.append( 44)

   print "printing from NSA:"
   print normalQ

   NSB.updateNSA( )

   print "printing from NSA:"
   print normalQ
   print "abc = %d" % abc

if __name__ == '__main__' :

   indirect()

---------------------------------
nameSpaceTestB.py:
import nameSpaceTestA as NSA

def updateNSA( ) :
   print "printing from NSB:"
   print NSA.normalQ
   NSA.normalQ.append( "gotcha")
   print NSA.normalQ
   print NSA.abc
   NSA.abc = 666
   print NSA.abc


if __name__ == '__main__' :
   NSA.indirect()
---------------------------------
> py24 nameSpaceTestA.py
printing from NSA:
[37, 44]
printing from NSB:
[37]
[37, 'gotcha']
25
666
printing from NSA:
[37, 44]
abc = 25
>
---------------------------------
> py24 nameSpaceTestB.py
printing from NSA:
[37, 44]
printing from NSB:
[37, 44]
[37, 44, 'gotcha']
25
666
printing from NSA:
[37, 44, 'gotcha']
abc = 666