[Python-Dev] Explicit Lexical Scoping (pre-PEP?)

[Ka-Ping Yee]

On Wed, 5 Jul 2006, Guido van Rossum wrote:
> On 7/5/06, Phillip J. Eby <pje at telecommunity.com> wrote:
> > Using the classic nonsense example:
> >
> >      def counter(num):
> >          def inc():
> >              .num += 1
> >              return .num
> >          return inc
> >
> Would this also use ..num to refer to num in an outer scope two
> levels removed?

I don't think there's any need for that.  I see '.num' as just another
way of saying "num, but don't make a new binding".

I agree with Guido that the best proposals so far are converging on
the idea that it's more Pythonic to say "don't make a new binding"
when a variable is used, than to declare "this is the scope for this
binding" ahead of time.

Of those there are two kinds:

    (a) State once (anywhere in a scope, but preferably at the
        beginning) that a variable is non-local.  This is like
        the "global" keyword works now, and this category includes:

          - Change the meaning of 'global'.
          - Add a new keyword 'outer' or 'nonlocal', etc.

    (b) Indicate, when mentioning a variable, that the variable
        is non-local.  This category includes:

          - Say 'global.x' or 'outer.x' instead of 'x'.
          - Say '.x' instead of 'x'.

My favourite so far is to use a new keyword -- i think changing the
meaning of 'global' would be misleading.  '.x' is probably my next
favourite, though i share Guido's concern about allowing both 'x'
and '.x' to refer to the same thing.

I see that 'outer' is used as an identifier in hmac.py in the
standard library and also as a variable in test_set*.py.  On the
other hand 'nonlocal' does not appear anywhere in the standard
library.  Thus, 'nonlocal' is the best option that i've seen so far;
it's less likely to break anything and it says exactly what it means.
I can't think of a more accurate keyword.


-- ?!ng