On 9/25/17 12:29 PM, Steve D'Aprano wrote:
Regardless of whether I'm using Python, Swift, Java, C, Pascal or Scheme, if I
write something like:
x = Parrot(name="Polly")
(using Python syntax for simplicity) and somebody tries to tell me that the
value of x is anything but a Parrot instance named "Polly", I have no time for
that sort of nonsense. They might as well tell me that I'm typing this response
on an elephant.
But in this line:
x = 2 + 2
You can say,
the value of x is 4
or,
the value of x is an int object with a value of 4
or,
the value of x is a reference to an int object with a value of 4,
and in some ways, each of those is a correct statement. They are
different perspectives on the same complicated abstract relationships
inside your program. Most of the disagreements in this thread stem from
someone picking one of those three statements and insisting that it is
*the* right statement, or from differing interpretations of words like
value, reference, pointer, alias, etc.
Software gets complicated because it involves multiple levels of
abstraction layered on top of each other. We might as well be arguing
like this:
A: "The gas pedal makes the car go"
B: "Nonsense! The gas pedal supplies fuel to the engine, it's the
engine that makes the car go"
C: "None of you know what you are talking about! The engine merely
turns the axle. It's the wheels that make the car go!"
D: "The wheels only work because of the friction between rubber and
asphalt!"
etc etc etc.
--Ned.
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