Path: csiph.com!v102.xanadu-bbs.net!xanadu-bbs.net!news.glorb.com!news.astraweb.com!border6.newsrouter.astraweb.com!not-for-mail From: Ben Finney Newsgroups: comp.lang.python Subject: Re: Variables vs names References: <18409992-1e28-4721-8e64-60c69668da4e@googlegroups.com> <87d32i1ntc.fsf@benfinney.id.au> <5035d3e4$0$1645$c3e8da3$76491128@news.astraweb.com> <50366ec8$0$6574$c3e8da3$5496439d@news.astraweb.com> <503832e8$0$6574$c3e8da3$5496439d@news.astraweb.com> X-Public-Key-ID: 0xAC128405 X-Public-Key-Fingerprint: 517C F14B B2F3 98B0 CB35 4855 B8B2 4C06 AC12 8405 X-Public-Key-URL: http://www.benfinney.id.au/contact/bfinney-pubkey.asc X-Post-From: Ben Finney Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2012 15:24:29 +1000 Message-ID: <87wr0nee7m.fsf@benfinney.id.au> User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/23.4 (gnu/linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:Wc8/8O/rMkxD94DyCZOMnDZ2Y8w= MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Lines: 40 Organization: Unlimited download news at news.astraweb.com NNTP-Posting-Host: 4152273e.news.astraweb.com X-Trace: DXC=kD?>b0H^WD\40PdiKi@9HQL?0kYOcDh@ZSBc;\8ijUd[_mcPl4[h3 writes: > On Thu, 23 Aug 2012 14:22:08 -0500, Evan Driscoll wrote: > > > In [the hypothetical language] Python--, any time you use a name, > > you have to prefix it with the word 'variable': > > variable x = 4 > > print(variable x) > > > > Does Python-- have variables? > > Of course, because that's what Python-- calls them. Whether Python-- > is *justified* in calling them variables is a more interesting > question. How many legs does a horse have, if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling the tail a leg doesn't make it so. Similarly, I don't care that Python-- uses the term “variable”, it only has variables if it has things which meet a sensible definition of “variable”. So no, “because that's what Python-- calls them” is not sufficient. > I think it is, in the sense that name bindings are a kind of variable, > and fixed memory locations are a different kind of variable. But I > also think that it isn't, for exactly the reasons why I prefer to > describe Python (without the minuses) as having name bindings rather > than variables "in the C or Pascal sense". To emphasise what may not be apparent to some newcomers, Steven and I are virtually in exact agreement here. We talk more about where we differ because that's what interests us :-) -- \ “In the long run, the utility of all non-Free software | `\ approaches zero. All non-Free software is a dead end.” —Mark | _o__) Pilgrim, 2006 | Ben Finney