Variables versus name bindings [Re: A certainl part of an if() structure never gets executed.]

[Chris Angelico]

On Tue, Jun 18, 2013 at 7:51 PM, Νίκος <support at superhost.gr> wrote:
> Στις 18/6/2013 12:05 μμ, ο/η Steven D'Aprano έγραψε:
>
>> Names are *always* linked to objects, not to other names.
>>
>> a = []
>> b = a  # Now a and b refer to the same list
>> a = {} # Now a refers to a dict, and b refers to the same list as before
>
>
> I see, thank you Steven.
>
> But since this is a fact how do you create complicated data structures that
> rely on various variables pointing one to another liek we did in C++(cannot
> recall their names) ?

Why do you need to? Linked lists, trees, and so on are just tools.
They're usually used to implement data structures like mappings,
growable arrays, lists that can have elements inserted into them, etc,
etc. Python does these sorts of things in better ways. You should not
need to worry about memory locations, pointers, etc. Now, if you want
to have one object reference another, that can be done in plenty of
ways. Check the Python tutorial.

ChrisA