Default Value

[Rick Johnson]

On Friday, June 21, 2013 2:10:49 AM UTC-5, Chris Angelico wrote:
> Why should that be? Why is a subroutine not allowed to
> retain any state?

I refuse to repeat myself for lazy readers!

> You're free to write code in a purely functional style if
> you like

I don't want to write code in a purely functional style, i
find that style too restricting.

> all objects must be immutable,

That would suck!
 
> all functions must have no side effects and simply return
> a value.

No thanks!
 
> One of Python's strengths is that it permits many styles
> of programming, without shoehorning every programmer and
> every task into one model.

Yes, and i consider that aspect of Python a virtue. But this
"persistence of mutable arguments" is not a virtue, it's an
abomination!