[Python-Dev] Checking that PEP 558 (defined semantics for locals()) handles assignment expressions

[Nick Coghlan]

With PEP 572's formal acceptance now expected to be just a matter of
time, I'll limit any further personal expressions of opinion on the
change and the process taken to achieve it to other venues :)

However, there's a design aspect I do need to address, which is to
make sure that PEP 558 (my proposal to actually nail down an
implementation independent specification for how we expect locals() to
behave at runtime) accurately covers the way runtimes and debuggers
are expected to behave when comprehensions and generator expressions
are executed at different scopes.

My current view is that it's going to be OK to expose the differing
behaviours at module and function scope directly:

* if you debug a module level comprehension or genexp, the target name
will be flagged on the code object as a dynamically resolved name
reference, so a debugger should handle it the same was as it would
handle any other "global NAME" declaration (and it will appear only in
globals(), not in locals())
* similarly for a function comprehension or genexp, the name will show
up like any other "nonlocal NAME" (appears in locals() rather than
globals(), and is affected by the proposed changes in the interaction
between trace functions and the frame.f_locals attribute)

I think that's an acceptable outcome, since it's a natural consequence
of PEP 572 defining its comprehension and generator expression
handling in terms of existing global and nonlocal scoping semantics.

Cheers,
Nick.

-- 
Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan at gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia