Is 'everything' a refrence or isn't it?

[Donn Cave]

In article <1137111240.338847.23920 at f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>,
 rurpy at yahoo.com wrote:
...
> I think the difference in our perspectives is that you already
> *know* what a value is, not necessarily in a way that allows
> you to write a defintion, but certainly in a way that allows
> to work effectively with them.
> 
> As a Python beginner, I do not know, and I need something
> more than "it is something an object has".  I do NOT need
> eiher some formal specifcation, nor a metaphysical discussion
> that relates it to platonic ideals and other such concepts.
> 
> Surely there is some middle ground?

Well, see what you make of Steve Holden and Bengt Richter's
answers, and let us know if 1) it answers your question and
2) you can distill your new insight into a dozen words or so
for the language reference.

I'm still inclined to dispute the premise.  Your example
where you demonstrate the problem:

> I wanted to write a function that would dump the contents
> of any object (value and attributes), and got rather confused
> about values, types, repr's, etc.

In the light of the answers you're getting, you may be thinking
that this isn't a simple problem.  It isn't, in principle, it's
a huge bucket of worms.  But if you have a practical focus that
comes out of your actual application for this function, it could
be pretty trivial.  Your choice, and likewise for the notion of
value in general.

   Donn Cave, donn at u.washington.edu