[Edu-sig] Sticky-note Analogy

[John Posner]

> Partly why it's misleading to speak of names as variables is 
> that shoptalk tends to prevent us from seeing 8 as the *name* 
> of an immutable object, one for which the name is hardwired 
> (but feel free to bind, or assign, other not-spoken-for names 
> to the same object).

I don't see the advantage of thinking of "8" as a name. It's just some
syntax that creates an unnamed object. In that sense, all of these are
similar:

   8
   8 + 3
   Rod(length =  9, color = 'blue')   

In all these cases, the resulting object gets a name only if it's the RHS of
an assignment. If not, the object disappears (from the user's viewpoint,
anyway) as soon as the containing statement/expression is executed.

Also, what do you say to the student who points out that "8 is a name"
violates the rule that Python names must begin with a letter or underscore?

-John