lambda in list comprehension acting funny

[Prasad, Ramit]

> >> VERBOSE = True
> >>
> >> def function(arg):
> >>     if VERBOSE:
> >>        print("calling function with arg %r" % arg)
> >>     process(arg)
> >>
> >> def caller():
> >>     VERBOSE = False
> >>     function(1)
> >>
> >> ---------------------------------------------
> >> Python semantics: function sees VERBOSE False
> >> Haskell semantics: function sees VERBOSE True
> 
> >>>> def caller():
> > ...     VERBOSE = False
> > ...     function(1)
> >>>> def function(arg):
> > ...     if VERBOSE:
> > ...        print("calling function with arg %r" % arg)
> > ...
> >>>> VERBOSE = True
> >>>> caller()
> > calling function with arg 1
> >
> > I might be being OCD, but caller needs `global VERBOSE` for that to
> > work as you explain.
> 
> That would be quite different from what Rusi is after.
> 
> If you add `global VERBOSE` to `caller`, then there is only one
> variable named `VERBOSE` and what `function` does, depends on
> the most recent assignment to that variable.
> 
> If you remove your `global VERBOSE`, then there are two
> variables by that name, one global and one local to `caller`.
> In that case, there is the question of which one `function`
> will use.
>

But that is not what Rusi writes.
"Python semantics: function sees VERBOSE False" <- function
will not see False without the use of global. 

> The function `function` refers to a variable `VERBOSE` that
> isn't local.  In some programming langauages, the interpreter
> would then scan the call stack at run-time, looking for a scope
> where that name is defined.  It would find the local one in
> `caller`.  This is known as "dynamic binding".
> 
> Other interpreters use the `VERBOSE` that was in scope at
> the point in the program text where `function` was defined.
> In this case, that would be the global one.  This is called
> "lexical binding".
> 
> Some programming languages allow you to indicate on a per-
> variable basis whether you want dynamic or lexical binding.
> 
> Python is firmly in the lexical camp.  Dynamic binding is not
> available in Python, and never will be.

True and a good explanation, but not what I understood
Rusi to mean.

Ramit



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