Slices time complexity

[Marko Rauhamaa]

Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python at pearwood.info>:

> Rustom, if you are serious about this approach, then the implication
> is that if I execute "x = 23" in Python, and I ask you what the value
> of x is, you should answer something like "146588120" (that's the
> implementation dependent "value", i.e. the address of the int 23).

Steven, you are trying to be facetious but end up making good points.

The "canonical" Python semantics actually states that

   x = 23

means:

   An int object with the numeric value 23 is constructed or fetched
   from a cache. A reference to the object is assigned to a variable
   whose name is "x".

> it's just *nuts*, and all because the Java folks are unwilling or
> unable to distinguish between the language semantics and the
> implementation of the language. And you're falling into the same hole.

I have yet to see a high-level language that has defined its data model
without resorting to "locations", "slots" and pointers of sorts. It
certainly is possible (lambda calculus doesn't make any reference to
objects or pointers) but hardly any alternative explanation is more
appealing to programmers' tastes and imagination than the concrete image
of boxes and arrows.


Marko