list vs tuple

[Tim Peters]

[Fredrik, gently guiding the young]
> since you don't know what python does, why don't you just shut up?

[The young, in the guise of one "deadmeat", gratefully guided]
> Ooh, poor diddums got proven wrong. I blew the lid on your little baby.
> <cries>

That could perhaps have gone better.

> What python DOES is irrelevant - the way it's written (and therefore
> viewed by programmers coming from other languages) makes it
> inconsistant.

This depends on which "other languages" you're talking about.  For example,
Python's behavior is "obvious" to those coming from Java or Icon, which have
similarly simple rules.  I realize you're not eager to believe it, but the
Pascal rules you're coming from are too complicated to apply directly to
Python.

> The same statement (a = b) behaves entirely differently in each case.

The things you're forgetting in this claim (which, btw, is dead wrong as
written) are the source of the problem.  Fredrik is right, and you won't make
progress until you're willing to entertain that.  Like the first line of his
"Python Objects" at

    http://w1.132.telia.com/~u13208596/guides/python-objects.htm

says, "reset your brain".  This isn't Pascal.

when-all-you've-eaten-is-sauerkraut-the-taste-of-chocolate-
    may-be-a-shock<wink>-ly y'rs  - tim