"always passes by reference"

[Greg Ewing]

"(Greg Weeks)" wrote:
> 
> This hasty way of speaking used to be considered correct, and I still like
> it.

It's perfectly adequate for talking purely about Python to
someone who understands the Python data model.

It only becomes an issue when trying to describe the
Python data model to someone coming from a different family
of languages. And then, terms like "pass by value" and
"pass by reference" tend to cause more confusion than
they're worth, so it's best not to use them.

Maybe we need a new term to describe Pythonic parameter
passing. Let's call it "pass by spanish inquisition",
because C/C++-heads are never expecting it.

-- 
Greg Ewing, Computer Science Department, 
University of Canterbury, New Zealand
To get my email address, please visit my web page:
http://www.cosc.canterbury.ac.nz/~greg