Re: The “does Python have variables?” debate

[Chris Angelico]

On Thu, May 8, 2014 at 11:27 AM, Steven D'Aprano
<steve+comp.lang.python at pearwood.info> wrote:
> If I have understood correctly, and I welcome confirmation or correction,
> one can have any combination of:
>
> * dynamic typing and name binding (e.g. Python and Ruby);
> * static typing and name binding (e.g. Java);
> * dynamic typing and fixed-location variables (any examples?);
> * static typing and fixed-location variables (C, Pascal).

Dynamic typing and fixed locations could really only be assembly
language, I think. It's all just bits in memory, and you treat them as
whatever you want. In C, signed and unsigned integers are different
types; in 80x86 assembly language, they're just integers, and you use
either JA or JG (Jump if Above vs Jump if Greater) to make unsigned or
signed comparisons. Or you can fetch a set of four bytes out of a byte
("character", ha) string and treat it as an integer - see for instance
the FOURCC system used in some audio files.

It's certainly not a normal way of writing code, but hey, it fills in
the hole in your set of four :)

ChrisA