Python for non-programmers

[Dennis Lee Bieber]

On Mon, 06 Mar 2000 17:37:16 GMT, kragen at dnaco.net (Kragen Sitaker)
declaimed the following in comp.lang.python:

> In article <3prrbskd8a3tmhmr8a4bnrcf2ft8k52k29 at 4ax.com>,
> Dennis Lee Bieber  <wlfraed at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> >Python=>find the box with the "B" post-it note stuck to the front,
> >create a copy of the contents in some empty box, add three to the
> >contents of the (formerly) empty box, create a post-it note with "A" on
> >it, and stick the post-it note to the box
> 
> The whole point of garbage collection is that you don't have to think
> about the boxes --- just variables that are associated with values.
> 
> Of course, when you have a list, the list becomes a box (or a row of
> boxes) that you can put things in, but you still don't have to worry
> about what box or boxes the list is in.
>
	I think you're going down a level I never intended -- my
comparison was just meant to be on the level of "intro to Computers 101"
(and based a bit on some of the stuff from my own class back in the
70s).
 
> You do have to understand that many names can reference a single value

	Which would be many post-it notes with different names on one
box -- at the simple level of my simile.

	All I was after was the difference between (Basic, for example):
variable names represent fixed boxes, and stuff moves between the boxes
in assignment; vs Python: variable names are labels on boxes, and move
from box to box during assignment

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