[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > I had a global variable holding a count. One source Google found > suggested that I wouldn't need the global if I used an object. So I > created a Singleton class that now holds the former global as an > instance attribute. Bye, bye, global. > > But later I thought about it. I cannot see a single advantage to the > object approach. Am I missing something? Or was the original global a > better, cleaner solution to the "I need a value I can read/write from > several places" problem?
Look up "coupling" and "cohesion" in Wikipedia or similar, and you will find out that global variables are bad because they introduce tight coupling between different pieces of functionality in your code. If a function uses a global variable then you have to initialize the same global variable in another program that uses it: yet another piece of setup you will forget to do. Having said that, where are you storing the reference to the singleton instance? It wouldn't be a global, would it? regards Steve -- Steve Holden +1 571 484 6266 +1 800 494 3119 Holden Web LLC http://www.holdenweb.com/ -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
