Python dot-equals (syntax proposal)
Alf P. Steinbach
alfps at start.no
Sun May 2 01:05:26 EDT 2010
On 02.05.2010 06:06, * Aahz:
> In article<4bdcd631$0$27782$c3e8da3 at news.astraweb.com>,
> Steven D'Aprano<steve at REMOVE-THIS-cybersource.com.au> wrote:
>> On Sat, 01 May 2010 07:13:42 -0500, Tim Chase wrote:
>>>
>>> The += family of operators really do rebind the symbol, not modify the
>>> object.
>>
>> They potentially do both, depending on the object, even for built-ins.
>
> No, they always rebind; sometimes they modify the object
If they always rebind and sometimes modify object then they "potentially do
both", and so the "No" at the start of the sentence contradicts this later part.
> and sometimes
> they rebind the original target to the same object.
At the Python level that seems to be an undetectable null-operation. Granted one
could see something going on in a machine code or byte code debugger. But making
that distinction (doing nothing versus self-assignment) at the Python level
seems, to me, to be meaningless.
Cheers,
- Alf
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