On 2/19/18 1:01 PM, Paul Moore wrote:
On 19 February 2018 at 17:11, Ned Batchelder <n...@nedbatchelder.com> wrote:
On 2/19/18 10:39 AM, Paul Moore wrote:
I'm curious - How would you explain Python's "variables" to someone
who knows how C variables work, in a way that ensures they don't carry
across any unfortunate misconceptions based on how C works? If I had a
good way of doing that, maybe I wouldn't need to play apple/orange
games when discussing the subject.
I would (and did) explain it like this:
https://nedbatchelder.com/text/names1.html
That talk was pretty much powered by hating the phrase "Python has no
variables" :)
Interesting (and somewhat embarrassing :-() That talk (which I'd
forgotten was yours) was one of the key things that made me start
thinking in terms of Python naming values rather than assigning values
to variables! I still find that your explanation (which never uses the
term "variable" until you refer to the "Python has no variables" idea
at the end) is one of the best ways to describe how Python assignment
works.
But using your explanation as a way to defend a statement that you
don't agree with is wrong, so I'll stop doing that in future. Sorry!
In terms of your talk, would I be right to say that "names" (in the
sense you use them in that talk) are Python's "variables"? That
equates to common usage, so I can go with that ("Python's variables
act like names, unlike other languages"). But I'd hate to replace one
misunderstanding of what you said with another, so let me know if I've
still got it wrong...
TBH, I forget the exact words I used during the talk, but: names are
Python's variables. That sounds good to me.
--Ned.
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