Objects in Python

[Evan Driscoll]

On 8/22/2012 18:58, Ben Finney wrote:
> You haven't discovered anything about types; what you have discovered is
> that Python name bindings are not variables.
> 
> In fact, Python doesn't have variables – not as C or Java programmers
> would understand the term. What it has instead are references to objects
> (with names as one kind of reference).

OK, I've seen this said a few times, and I have to ask: what do you mean
by this? I consider myself pretty decent at Python and other languages,
and I really don't get it.

Especially the comparison to Java variables. Java programmers are quite
used to variables which are references to objects: everything that's not
a primitive type is a reference, and it's kinda hard to determine
whether primitives are references or actual primitives.

And many other languages have reference behavior and still call their
bindings "variables", e.g. Scheme.

Evan


-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 552 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
URL: <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/attachments/20120822/66736094/attachment.sig>