Tim wrote: > I have this type of situation and wonder if I should use a global variable > outside the recursive function instead of passing the updated parameter > through.
To a first approximation, the answer to: "I have a X, should I use a global variable or a parameter?" is *always* "use a parameter", no matter what X is. To a second and third approximation, the answer is still "use a parameter". Good reasons for using global variables are few and far between. Just about the only good reason for using global variables that I can think of is if you have one or more settings/preference that get set once at the start of the program and then apply to the entire program. Actually, there is one other reason... if your program is a simple script written in imperative style: name = "steve" print "Hello", name do_this() do_that() do_something_else() print "Good bye", name sort of thing. -- Steven -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
