[issue7867] Proposed FAQ entry on pass-by-? semantics and the meaning of 'variable' in python

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[issue7867] Proposed FAQ entry on pass-by-? semantics and the meaning of 'variable' in python

R. David Murray added the comment: This patch isn't going to be accepted, so I'm closing the issue. Someone else can propose a different wording in a new issue if they wish. -- resolution: -> rejected stage: -> committed/rejected status: open -> closed _

[issue7867] Proposed FAQ entry on pass-by-? semantics and the meaning of 'variable' in python

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[issue7867] Proposed FAQ entry on pass-by-? semantics and the meaning of 'variable' in python

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[issue7867] Proposed FAQ entry on pass-by-? semantics and the meaning of 'variable' in python

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[issue7867] Proposed FAQ entry on pass-by-? semantics and the meaning of 'variable' in python

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[issue7867] Proposed FAQ entry on pass-by-? semantics and the meaning of 'variable' in python

Terry J. Reedy added the comment: I and others completely disagree with "Technically the correct answer is 'pass by value',". This confuses the C implementation with the abstract semantics of Python. The correct answer is neither. Nothing is 'passed'. A better form of the question would be "D

[issue7867] Proposed FAQ entry on pass-by-? semantics and the meaning of 'variable' in python

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[issue7867] Proposed FAQ entry on pass-by-? semantics and the meaning of 'variable' in python

R. David Murray added the comment: Michael: I didn't read the whole thread, but it has definite echos of the thread in which I was involved. While I agree that in pure computer-science terms it may be imprecise to say that python is 'call by value where values are pointers to objects", my go

[issue7867] Proposed FAQ entry on pass-by-? semantics and the meaning of 'variable' in python

Ezio Melotti added the comment: The difference is that mutable objects may give the illusion of a pass-by-reference (because changes made inside the function are visible outside) whereas immutable objects give the illusion of pass-by-value (because you can't affect the original object in any

[issue7867] Proposed FAQ entry on pass-by-? semantics and the meaning of 'variable' in python

Michael Foord added the comment: Over 122 messages so I'm not going to search exhaustively. In this part of the thread you can see Fredrik Lundh and Aahz disputing "call-by-value-where-the-value-is-a-reference" as a useful way of describing Python calling semantices: http://groups.google.com

[issue7867] Proposed FAQ entry on pass-by-? semantics and the meaning of 'variable' in python

R. David Murray added the comment: Well, the thrust of the second part is to make it clear that there *are* no differences between mutable and immutable objects as far as the assignment semantics are concerned. All objects in Python are treated the same. What is different is what is on the

[issue7867] Proposed FAQ entry on pass-by-? semantics and the meaning of 'variable' in python

Ezio Melotti added the comment: The 4-point list at the beginning is in my opinion very clear (for people with some background in C or similar languages). I think that the following part is not really clear, and the example should focus better on the difference about mutable and immutable obj

[issue7867] Proposed FAQ entry on pass-by-? semantics and the meaning of 'variable' in python

R. David Murray added the comment: Well, the discussion was *long* and more than a bit contentious. This is my own personal summary. Here is a message I found somewhere in the middle of the thread: http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2009-January/1187126.html Do you have a pointer

[issue7867] Proposed FAQ entry on pass-by-? semantics and the meaning of 'variable' in python

Michael Foord added the comment: Wasn't the description of Python's semantics being 'pass by value where the value is a reference' actually very controversial indeed? Do you have a link to the discussion on c.l.p? -- nosy: +michael.foord ___ Python

[issue7867] Proposed FAQ entry on pass-by-? semantics and the meaning of 'variable' in python

New submission from R. David Murray : A while back, after along discussion about variables and their meaning in Python on the python-list, I wrote up the attached FAQ entry to summarize what I got out of that enlightening discussion. I'm proposing that this be added to the FAQs. If this does