Where do nested functions live?

[Rob Williscroft]

Frederic Rentsch wrote in news:mailman.1428.1162113628.11739.python-
list at python.org in comp.lang.python:

>    def increment_time (interval_ms):
>       outer weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds, mseconds   # 'outer' 
> akin to 'global'
>       (...)
>       mseconds = new_ms - s * 1000        # Assignee remains outer
>       m, seconds = divmod (s, 60)
>       h, minutes = divmod (m, 60)
>       d, hours = divmod (h, 24)
>       weeks, days = divmod (d, 7)         # No return necessary
> 
> The call would now be:
> 
>    increment_time (msec)                  # No reassignment necessary
> 
> 
> Hope this makes sense

Yes it does, but I prefer explicit in this case:

def whatever( new_ms ):
  class namespace( object ):
    pass
  scope = namespace()

  def inner():
    scope.mseconds = new_ms - s * 1000       
    m, scope.seconds = divmod (s, 60)
    h, scope.minutes = divmod (m, 60)
    d, scope.hours = divmod (h, 24)
    scope.weeks, scope.days = divmod (d, 7)        

The only thing I find anoying is that I can't write:

  scope = object()
 
Additionally if appropriate I can refactor further:

def whatever( new_ms ):
  class namespace( object ):
    def inner( scope ):
      scope.mseconds = new_ms - s * 1000       
      m, scope.seconds = divmod (s, 60)
      h, scope.minutes = divmod (m, 60)
      d, scope.hours = divmod (h, 24)
      scope.weeks, scope.days = divmod (d, 7)    

  scope = namespace()
  scope.inner()

In short I think an "outer" keyword (or whatever it gets called)
will just add another way of doing something I can already do,
and potentially makes further refactoring harder.

Thats -2 import-this points already.

Rob.
-- 
http://www.victim-prime.dsl.pipex.com/