Marco Buttu added the comment:
Another point in the doc, where the meaning of "free variable" is inconsistent
with the ``locals()`` and ``code.co_freevars`` meaning:
https://docs.python.org/3/reference/executionmodel.html#interaction-with-dynamic-features
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Marco Buttu added the comment:
The documentation [1] says: "If a variable is used in a code block but not
defined there, it is a free variable." According to this description, it seems
to me that the variable ``x`` is free in ``foo()``::
>>> def foo():
... print(x)
But actually for
Terry J. Reedy added the comment:
I requested that we stop (mis)using 'free variable' in the docs years ago. A
strong +1 from me.
The 'locals' function what named when 'local' and 'non-global' were synonyms.
When non-local, non-global names were added, nonlocals were included with
'locals'
Raymond Hettinger added the comment:
> A national variable maybe :)
I would think that "nonlocal" is exactly the right term given that that is how
you would declare it if you wanted to write to it.
>>> w = 5
>>> def f(x):
def g(y):
nonlocal x
global w
Martin Panter added the comment:
Regarding “free variables”, in Issue 17546 I proposed the wording “. . . also
includes non-local, non-global names”.
In your code example, I would consider y to be 100 percent local to the g()
function. It is a function parameter, and “y += 1” should work. I
New submission from Raymond Hettinger:
The docs for locals() say that inside a function that local variables and free
variables are included: https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#locals
Elsewhere we use the terms "cell variables" or "nonlocals". Mathematically,
the word "free"
