Is a list static when it's a class member?

[Fredrik Lundh]

Tom Plunket wrote:

>> if you want separate instances to use separate objects, make sure you 
>> create new objects for each new instance.  see Tim's reply for how to
>> do that.
> 
> kath's response is probably better.

so what's the practical difference between

     def __init__(self, name):
	self.name = name
         self.data = []

and

     def __init__(self, name):
         self.name = name
         self.data=[]

?

 > In Python, you don't define the instance members in the class scope
 > like the OP has done:

the OP's approach works perfectly fine, as long as you understand that 
class attributes are shared.

</F>