list.append problem?

[Julian Tibble]

In article <trjcuqh5bdrs89 at corp.supernews.com>, Bob Parnes wrote:
>As another newcomer I discovered this on my own. What is confusing, I 
>think, is that it seems to apply only to empty objects. For example

Ummmm, no.

>>>> a = b = [1, 2. 3]
>>>> a = [4, 5, 6]

Erm, you're not changing the contents of `a' here - you're making `a'
reference a different list entirely!

>In this case a and b are not bound to the same object. It seems to me that 
>python treats empty objects differently from assigned objects. Or something 
>like that, I'm probably not articulating it well.

Empty objects are not treated any differently than objects with contents:

>>> a = b = [1, 2, 3]
>>> b.append(4)
>>> a
[1, 2, 3, 4]


Julian