Is 'everything' a refrence or isn't it?

[Fredrik Lundh]

Bryan Olson wrote:

> > The identity is not, in itself, a part of the value.
> >
> > Python doesn't query the object to determine it's type or identity, but it
> > always has to query the object to access the value.
>  >
> > A look at the C implementation of a typical object might help:
> >
> >     typedef struct {
> >         int ob_refcnt;
> >         struct _typeobject *ob_type; /* type */
> >         ... an unknown amount of stuff used to represent the value ...
> >     } MyObject;
> >
> > In CPython, the MyObject* pointer is the identity.  The ob_refcnt field is a
> > CPython implementation detail.  The ob_type field contains the type.
>
> So, was it an editing error when you said that Python does not
> query the object to determine its type?  The type is there in the
> object, and and in Python, variables and references are not typed.

do you want to understand this, or do you just want to argue ?

(hint: what might the word "query" mean in this context?  can you think
of a meaning that's compatible with what I wrote?  would concepts like
"object", "value", "type", and "identity" be radically different on a python
implementation that used e.g. "true" garbage collection and tagged pointers
instead of CPython's approach?  if so, why?)

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