On 27/02/2011 16:45, Paul Symonds wrote:
Can someone give and explanation of what is happening with the following:
a,b = 0,1 # this assigns a = 0 and b = 1
while b < 10:
... print b
... a, b = b, a+b
...
1
1
2
3
5
8
a=0
b=1
while b < 1000:
... print b
... a = b
... b = a+b
...
1
2
4
8
16
32
64
128
256
512
Why is this statement .. a, b = b, a+b
different to ... a = b
... b = a+b
Because in the statement
a, b = b, a + b
Python evaluates both expressions on the RHS before assigning their
values to the variables on the LHS, whereas in the statements
a = b
b = a + b
Python assigns the RHS of the first statement to the variable a, /then/
evaluates the RHS of the second statement; the value of a has already
been changed by the time the RHS of the second statement gets evaluated.
So e.g. if a = 0 and b = 1, then the first statement says to let a = 1,
b = 0 + 1, while the other two statements say to let a = 1, then b = 1 +
1 (the first "1" being the new value of a).
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