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Subject: Re: The =?utf-8?Q?=E2=80=9Cdoes?= Python have =?utf-8?Q?variables?= =?utf-8?Q?=3F=E2=80=9D?= debate
Date: Thu, 08 May 2014 18:34:21 +1000
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Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.python:71087

Ned Batchelder <ned@nedbatchelder.com> writes:

> I thought we were concerned with beginners incorrectly thinking Python
> worked like C, but this [pseudocode] is nothing like C.

I'm not concerned about where these misconceptions come from, whether C
or any other language.

The concern is that the term “variable”'s existing baggage in the
programming community encourages *false inferences* that a beginner
doesn't even realise they're drawing. By discouraging use of that term
and replacing it with “name binding” or “reference”, a more accurate
model is implied, to the extent that its existing baggage encourages
significantly fewer false inferences.

(good sigmonster, have a cookie)

-- 
 \      “We suffer primarily not from our vices or our weaknesses, but |
  `\    from our illusions.” —Daniel J. Boorstin, historian, 1914–2004 |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney