module confusion

[Lawrence D'Oliveiro]

In message <mailman.1487.1191456788.2658.python-list at python.org>, Carsten
Haese wrote:

> On Thu, 2007-10-04 at 11:11 +1300, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>
>> In Python, all names _are_ variables. They are not "bound" to objects.
>> The value of os.path is a pointer.
> 
> No. "os.path" refers to the object that's known as the "path" attribute
> of the object known as "os". That object, in turn, is a module.

No, it's a variable. It just happens to contain a pointer to a module.

>>  It's implemented as a pointer,
> 
> While it is true that namespaces are implemented in CPython as
> collections of pointers to PyObject structures, that's an irrelevant
> implementation detail. I doubt that they are implemented as pointers in
> Jython, PyPy, or IronPython.

I'll bet they are.

>>  it has all the semantics of a pointer.
> 
> No, it doesn't. A pointer means the physical address of a memory
> location, which implies that you can overwrite that memory location. Can
> you do that in Python?

Yes. Look up the definition of "mutable objects".