list storing variables

[Marko Rauhamaa]

Peter Pearson <pkpearson at nowhere.invalid>:

>>>>> a = 2; b = 5
>>>>> Li = [a, b]
>>>>> Li
>> [2, 5]
>>>>> a=3
>>>>> Li
>> [2, 5]
>
> [...]
>
> The word "variable" brings implications and assumptions that get
> people into trouble in Python.  Python doesn't have variables.
> It has objects, and you can assign names to objects -- like sticky
> notes, as someone in this newsgroup helpfully pointed out long ago.
>
> This way of thinking is significantly different from the familiar
> "variable" mind-set of C, but looks similar enough to produce some 
> confusion.  For me, the sticky-note analogy helped a lot, and in a
> few days many things made more sense.

It's no different in C:

   #include <stdio.h>

   int main()
   {
      int a = 2, b = 5;
      int Li[2] = { a, b };
      printf("%d %d\n", Li[0], Li[1]);
      a = 3;
      printf("%d %d\n", Li[0], Li[1]);
      return 0;
   }

Outputs:

   2 5
   2 5


Marko