Closures in leu of pointers?

[Ian Kelly]

On Sun, Jun 30, 2013 at 4:07 AM, Antoon Pardon
<antoon.pardon at rece.vub.ac.be> wrote:
> I don't think this reference is as strong as you think it is. Here is
> a paragraph somewhat lower:
>
> ] If a name is bound in a block, it is a local variable of that block,
> ] unless declared as nonlocal. If a name is bound at the module level, ] it
> is a global variable. (The variables of the module code block are ] local
> and global.) If a variable is used in a code block but not
> ] defined there, it is a free variable.
>
> So the language documentation mentions these names as being variables.

It seems to refer to "local" and "global" variables as a short hand
for talking about specific types of name binding, which is the
dominant nomenclature of the documentation.  You asked why people talk
about Python binding names instead of assigning variables, and I think
the reference material is a clear source for that, even if it does
also use the word "variable".  There is also the section on assignment
statements, where it again refers to names being bound, not variables
being assigned:

http://docs.python.org/3/reference/simple_stmts.html#assignment-statements