Re: Python internals question
Helmut Jarausch wrote: Please have a look at ... http://rg03.wordpress.com/2007/04/21/semantics-of-python-variable-names-from-a-c-perspective/ Helmut, I found the second reference (the one above) very useful thank you. Most other respondents to my original question did not seem to understand what I was asking or didn't read the question and simply proceeded to re-state what I had quoted from Beazley - well I understood what he was saying, I simply wanted to find out how Python did it at a lower level. Your reference answered the question ;-) Thanks, Peter -- Peter Anderson There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things -- Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, ch. 6 -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Re: Python internals question
Peter Anderson wrote: Hi! I am slowly teaching myself Python. I was reading David Beazley's excellent book Python - Essential Reference; in particular about variables. Let me quote: Python is a dynamically typed language in which names can represent values of different types during the execution of a program. In fact the names used in the program are really just labels for various quantities and objects. The assignment operator simply creates an association between a name and a value. This is different from C, for example, in which a name (variable) represents a fixed size and location in memory... As an old mainframe programmer, I understand the way C does things with variable but this text got me wondering how Python handles this association between variable name and value at the lower level. Is it like a fifo list? If there is any Python guru that can help I would be most interested in your thoughts. Please have a look at http://effbot.org/zone/call-by-object.htm and http://rg03.wordpress.com/2007/04/21/semantics-of-python-variable-names-from-a-c-perspective/ -- Helmut Jarausch Lehrstuhl fuer Numerische Mathematik RWTH - Aachen University D 52056 Aachen, Germany -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Re: Python internals question
On Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:54:46 +1000, Peter Anderson wrote: Python is a dynamically typed language in which names can represent values of different types during the execution of a program. In fact the names used in the program are really just labels for various quantities and objects. The assignment operator simply creates an association between a name and a value. This is different from C, for example, in which a name (variable) represents a fixed size and location in memory... As an old mainframe programmer, I understand the way C does things with variable but this text got me wondering how Python handles this association between variable name and value at the lower level. Is it like a fifo list? Why a fifo list? Names don't remember the values and types they are bound to over time, there's just one binding at any time if a name exists. Internally you can think of a pointer to a struct that represents the object. Ciao, Marc 'BlackJack' Rintsch -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
