Steve D'Aprano wrote:
The third entity is the reference linking the name to the object (the arrow). This isn't a runtime value in Python, nor is it a compile time entity that exists in source code. It is pure implementation, and as such, exists outside of the Python domain.
The fact that there is a connection between the name and the object is very much part of Python's abstract semantics. There are different ways to implement that connection, but *any* implementation of Python has to include *some* representation of it. There are also different words that can be used to describe it. You can say that names are bound to objects, or that names refer to objects, or that names hold references to objects. These are all equally good ways of talking about the exact same abstract concept. To me this argument about whether Python has references or not is like an American person saying that cars have hoods, and a British person saying he's wrong, hoods are an implementation detail and cars actually have bonnets instead. -- Greg -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list