[Python-ideas] Globalize lonely augmented assignment

[Greg Ewing]

Demur Rumed wrote:

> I believe it would be simpler to learn that variables are _only_ local 
> if bound with the assignment operator.

I'd be happy with that, but

> I'd like to further the locality of a variable to "A 
> variable is local if, and only if, it is first referenced as the left 
> hand side of an assignment on all code paths."

is a *much* more complicated rule both to learn and comply
with. What happens if this is true for some code paths but
not others? That would probably indicate a mistake, and
having the scope default to global in that case would be
quite dangerous.

For the matter at hand, a compromise might be to raise a
compile-time error if a variable is referenced by an
augmented assignment without either a global declaration
or a plain assignment to the same variable somewhere in
the function.

That would help newbies by explaining more clearly what
the problem is, while not affecting any existing correct
code.

-- 
Greg