On Fri, Feb 5, 2010 at 10:40 AM, Hansen, Mike <mike.han...@atmel.com> wrote:
> Perl has "use strict;" to force variable declaration. > > My insane Perl loving co-workers think it's evil that Python doesn't have > variable declaration. =) > > What are some of the reasons/arguments on why Python doesn't need variable > declaration? I've gotten around it in Python by using Pyflakes to check my > code and catch those silly mis-spelling of a variable. I've never had any serious problems (though I've never worked on huge projects with Python), but here are some of the reasons that pop into my mind: 1) We're big boys and girls - we're responsible enough to pay attention to our variables 2) I have no clue, but it may make it easier on the garbage collection - once a value/object no longer has a reference it can probably be cleared up. But those c variables you declared way back in the beginning of your program? Still there (though an anti-argument would be that you're not using scope properly in this case) 3) If you're writing a small program you should be able to see everything, but if you're using a big enough program you should be using an IDE that keeps track of that sort of thing. I don't know how valid those reasons would be considered... but I, for one, like the freedom of not having to type: int a = 0; or int a; MyClass(){ a = 0; } or any other waste of keystrokes. If I want a new variable, I'll make it responsibly - whether I need it here or there... but that's my two cents -Wayne
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