[Python-ideas] "value" ~ "data" ~ "object"

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

Bruce Leban writes:

 > I would say that roughly:
 > 
 > value : datum :: instance : object

You can say that if you like, but unfortunately you cannot expect
others to take that meaning without an explicit gloss to explain what
you mean.  Data in the broadest sense (as the plural of datum) is just
tiny pieces of unstructured information, but it is often used in other
senses, such as coextensive with "information", or connoting an array
of information pieces of some type, or a stream of information pieces
conforming to some syntax.  Because of current common usage, it is
most useful as a collective noun for "information" when you don't want
to be precise.

Since in English it is rare that we are precise about the "sense" in
which we use "data", I agree with Guido that the word should be
avoided in this kind of discussion.