July 1, 2006
7:06 p.m.
What about doing something similar to how import was changed?
.a = 5 # this scope (self might be too magical ..a = 3 # up one scope ...a # up three
Of course, this looks ... perhaps a bit strange. Also, counting is a bother.
I'd rather see a simpler rule: = never defines a variable in a surrounding scope. If you want to affect the binding of such a variable, you have to define it explicitly in the scope in which you want it. Example: x = 42 def f(): x = 123 # rebinds x as defined above y = 123 # defines local variable f() print x # prints 123 print y # error -- y not defined Yes, I know that rule is too simplistic. But I think I'd still prefer it to the way things are now.