Pass-by-reference : Could a C#-like approach work in Python?

[Stephen Horne]

On Wed, 10 Sep 2003 22:39:23 +0800, Tim Hoffman <timh at zute.net> wrote:

>Hi Stephen
>
>The bit I can't fathom is why you would want to do this ?
>At least in the case of the simple example you give.

It wasn't intended as a real world example - it was only intended to
illustrate what I want to be able to do.

>When you call inc function you are taking an immutable object 1 and 
>creating a new object which is the result of adding 1 to 1. And what you 
>are then asking it to rebind the variable x to point to the new int 
>object 2 inside the function.

Yes - that is exactly it. To rebind the callers variable/whatever that
supplied the parameter from within the function.

>Why you would want to do this is unclear. Secondly if it where a more 
>abstract object it would have an increment method which you could call 
>on the object which was passed to the function.

No, you are taking the noddy example too literally.

For a more realistic (but still simplified) example, see my reply to
Peter Ottens post.