[Python-ideas] aliasing

[MRAB]

On 02/09/2011 01:25, Greg Ewing wrote:
> Terry Reedy wrote:
>
>> This works because in Fortran a 'variable' is a block of memory. As I
>> remember, COMMON says to reuse memory for different variables.
>
> Also I think in early versions of Fortran it was the only
> way of sharing variables between subroutines, because there
> was no concept of a global namespace -- each subroutine
> was compiled independently, even if they were in the same
> source file.
>
Fortran also pre-dated stack allocation (I think), so local storage was
static (and no recursion!). COMMON enabled re-use of memory where two
or more subroutines or functions weren't 'active' at the same time.