Newbie asks about static variables...

[Gordon McMillan]

Emile van Sebille, in reply to Evan's creative use of a mutable 
default:

> Being also new at Python, doesn't your example follow the example
> from section 4.7 of the tutorial?
> 
> Why is this *evil*?  It's right there in the tutorial.  </aside - I
> really do believe everything I read> What is Guido not saying? What
> are the dangers?  Where is the case study?

The case study is the volume of posts complaining that something's 
broken. This is in the top 3. Evan's use of it as a "feature" is 
outnumbered 1,000 to 1 by complaints that it's a bug. 

Congratulations - you may well be unique in having both read and
retained this from the tutorial! 

- Gordon