What is a function parameter =[] for?

[Laura Creighton]

In a message of Fri, 27 Nov 2015 23:57:29 +1100, "Steven D'Aprano" writes:
>On Fri, 27 Nov 2015 01:56 pm, MRAB wrote:
>
>> On 2015-11-27 02:44, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
>
>>> The PyPy implementation has to take special actions to preserve the ID
>>> across object recreations. That is what I mean by "faked".
>>>
>> You could argue that it _does_ continue to exist, it just changes its
>> form...
>
>*Something* continues to exist, but it is no longer an object.
>
>I like Chris' analogy of it being like quantum mechanics -- the *object*
>isn't guaranteed to exist except when you try to access it, until then you
>don't know what form it will take at any instance.

I think it's just another instance of Just-In-Time Manufacturing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-in-time_manufacturing

"As soon as you need a object, we'll have one ready". :)

Laura