x += ... is not the same than x = x + ... if x is mutable

[Nobody]

On Wed, 20 Mar 2013 07:17:08 -0700, bartolome.sintes wrote:

> I thought that x += ... was the same than x = x + ..., but today I have
> realized it is not true when operating with mutable objects.

It may or may not be the same. x += y will invoke x.__iadd__(y) if x has
an __iadd__ method, otherwise x + y will be evaluated and the result
assigned to x.

In the first case, x will always continue to refer to the same object
(i.e. id(x) won't change). In the second case, x will typically (but not
always) refer to a different object.