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Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.python:66570

Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> writes:

> Chris Angelico wrote:
> > Because everything in Python is an object, and objects always are
> > handled by their references.
>
> <beginner_thought> So, we have objects... and we have
> references to objects... but everything is an object...
> so does that mean references are objects too?
> </beginner_thought>

My response: No, because references are not things :-)

I've never known a programming beginner to express such a question. Have
you?

Were they beginners at programming, or experienced programmers who were
coming to Python with the data models of other languages already in
their head?

-- 
 \          “Computer perspective on Moore's Law: Human effort becomes |
  `\           twice as expensive roughly every two years.” —anonymous |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney