beginner question, function returning object.

[bambam]

Second try (correction)

I started with ths:
 ------------------------------
def open_pipe():
    pipe=PIPE()
    print pipe
    return pipe

 pipe=open_pipe()
pipe.parent = self.parent
print pipe
 ------------------------------
 It didn't do what I wanted: when I printed the pipe the second time it was
 not the same object as the first time.

 So I changed it to this:
def open_pipe(pipe):
    pipe=PIPE()
    print pipe

 pipe = None
open_pipe(pipe)
pipe.parent = self.parent
print pipe

 It still doesn't do what I wanted: I can't assign the parent property
 because pipe type is None.

 I'm not sure enough of what I am doing to tell if I have another error in 
my
 code causing the problem. Is either of these examples supposed to work as
 shown? Is it clear that either example is obviously wrong?