what's in a name (was Re: using lambda to print everything in a list)

[Greg Ewing]

Joshua Marshall wrote:
> 
>  let:
>    x = lenthy_function()
>    y = even_larger_function()
>    pi = math.pi
>    e = math.e
>  in:
>    res = e**(pi*x+y)
> 
> But (unfortunately) Python doesn't have variable declarations and will
> probably stay that way.

That's not a fatal problem. The above could be interpreted
as introducing a local name scope such that (1) assignments
occurring in the "let:" section create new bindings in this
scope, (2) these bindings are available for use in the
"in:" section, but (3) assignments in the "in:" section
bind names in the outer scope.

Rather convoluted semantics, though!

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