[posted & e-mailed] In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Piet van Oostrum <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >There is. >Inside a method there are 3 kinds of identifiers: >- local ones e.g. parameters and local variables >- global ones (actually module-level) >- instance variables and methods > >Because Python has no declarations there must be a different way to >indicate in which category an identifier falls. For globals it is done with >the 'global' keyword (which actually is a declaration), for instance >variables the dot notation (object.name) is used and the rest is local. >Therefore every instance variable or instance method must be used with the >dot notation, including the ones that belong to the object `itself'. Python >has chosen that you can use any identifier to indicate the instance, and >then obviously you must name it somewhere. It could have chosen to use a >fixed name, like 'this' in Java or C++. It could even have chosen to use a >keyword 'local' to indicate local ones and let instance ones be the >default. But if instance variable would be implicit, local ones should have >been explicit.
Any objection to swiping this for the FAQ? (Probably with some minor edits.) -- Aahz ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) <*> http://www.pythoncraft.com/ "The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste." --Steve Jobs -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
