coding style - where to declare variables

[Marko Rauhamaa]

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

> Lambda calculus has the concept of a binding operator, which is
> effectively an assignment operator: it takes a variable and a value
> and binds the value to the variable, changing a free variable to a
> bound variable. In other words, it assigns the value to the variable,
> just like assignment does.

In traditional Lambda Calculus semantics, there are no values at all.
There are only well-formatted formulas and syntactic transformation
rules. You could view it as a macro preprocessing system where you keep
transforming the formula until no transformation rule applies.

Yes, λ can be viewed as a binding operator although classically, it is
simply a dead symbol just like '(', '.' and 'z'.

> Especially in this case. Anyone who understands lambda calculus is
> unlikely to be confused by Python using the same terms to mean
> something *almost identical* to what they mean in lambda calculus.
> (The only difference I can see is that lambda calculus treats
> variables as abstract mathematical entities, while Python and other
> programming languages vivify them and give them a concrete
> implementation.)
>
> If one in ten thousand programmers are even aware of the existence of
> lambda calculus, I would be surprised. To give up using perfectly
> good, accurate terminology in favour of worse, less accurate
> terminology in order to avoid unlikely and transient confusion among a
> minuscule subset of programmers seems a poor tradeoff to me.

The lambda calculus comment is just an aside. The main point is that
you shouldn't lead people to believe that Python has variables that are
any different than, say, Pascal's variables (even if you, for whatever
reason, want to call them "names"). They are memory slots that hold
values until you assign new values to them.

It *is* true that Python has a more limited data model than Pascal (all
of Python's values are objects in the heap and only accessible through
pointers). Also, unlike Pascal, variables can hold (pointers to) values
of any type. IOW, Python has the data model of Lisp.

Lisp talks about binding and rebinding variables as well:

   <URL: https://www.cs.cmu.edu/Groups/AI/html/cltl/clm/node79.html>

which might be Lambda Calculus legacy, but at least they are not shy to
talk about variables and assignment.


Marko