[Python-Dev] replacing 'global'

[Just van Rossum]

Skip Montanaro wrote:

> I see a couple problems:
> 
> * Would you be required to use := at each assignment or just the
> first?

Just the first; "a = 2" still means "a is local to this scope".

> All the toy examples we pass around are very simple, but it
> seems that the name would get assigned to more than once, so the
> programmer might need to remember the same discipline all the time. 
> It seems that use of
>         x := 2
>       and
>         x = 4
> should be disallowed in the same function so that the compiler can
> flag such mistakes.

I don't see it as a mistake. := would mean: "bind to whichever scope the
name is defined in", and that includes the current scope. I disagree
with Alex when he says := should mean "I'm binding this name in
NON-local scope".

> * This seems like a statement which mixes declaration and execution.

How is that different from "regular" assignment? It mixes declaration
and execution in the same way.

Just