On Wed, 05 Dec 2012 17:34:57 +0000, Steven D'Aprano wrote: > I believe that's a leftover from > early Python days when None was not a keyword and could be reassigned.
Oops! Wrong copy and paste! Here's a simpler version: [steve@ando ~]$ python1.5 Python 1.5.2 (#1, Aug 27 2012, 09:09:18) [GCC 4.1.2 20080704 (Red Hat 4.1.2-52)] on linux2 Copyright 1991-1995 Stichting Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam >>> from dis import dis >>> def h(): ... return None ... >>> dis(h) 0 SET_LINENO 1 3 SET_LINENO 2 6 LOAD_GLOBAL 0 (None) 9 RETURN_VALUE 10 LOAD_CONST 0 (None) 13 RETURN_VALUE The conclusion remains the same: calling LOAD_GLOBAL None is likely a fossil from ancient Python before it was a keyword. -- Steven -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list