>Why use "thing"? simply talk about "list1" >Set the first item of list1 to the number 1
This is where you bluntly mislead the students. "list1" is /nothing/ but the object it's currently binded to, and it's ultra important that they understand this. Otherwise, they would think the following code doesn't change the object name "list2", as it only deals with "list1". >>> list1 = [0] >>> list2 = list1 >>> list1[0] = 100 >> We name the number 1 "a", the number 2 "b" and the number 3 "c". >This is very confusing - you should not talk about "a" which is a string! >Create 3 names and bind the numbers 1, 2, and 3 to the names. Come on... I speak english here, not python! Imagine a bold fontface wherever I use quotation marks. >Why use this strange name "mlist_a"? Instead use: >multiple_lists = [list1, list2] I don't see a problem with Guy's name selection. I consider your suggestion worse, as the object called "multiple_lists" is, in fact, a single list that contains two other lists. You might call the outer list "nested_list" or "outer_list", but "multiple_lists" has nothing to do with the object itself. -----Original Message----- From: Nir Soffer [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, December 04, 2005 1:50 AM To: RaeNye Cc: 'guy keren'; python@linux.org.il; 'Amit Aronovitch' Subject: Re: teaching python variables Here is my version, not using the "variable", but using "reference", which seem natural. <snip>
