why cannot assign to function call

[Aahz]

In article <mailman.952.1235850376.11746.python-list at python.org>,
 <rdmurray at bitdance.com> wrote:
>
>I think this is the key point.  I am an experienced Python programmer,
>and I had to think long and hard about what you were saying, Mark, in
>order to understand how it applied to Python.  I think this means that
>your model and/or your level of abstraction is not "natural" when trying
>to understand Python programs, and I think I may have figured out why.

Good job!  I'll just add one little bit to your excellent rebuttal:

>Assignment in Python changes a mapping (mutates a namespace object). In
>this case the mapping being changed is the local function's namespace
>mapping.  We can't affect the caller's namespace mapping, because (in
>this function) we don't have access to the caller's namespace object.
>So I would diagram it like this:
>
>         y (in global env.)  -----> 'virgin'
>
>         x (in function 'test')  ----> 'clobbered'

Although you later make clear that this model works well with lists, too,
I personally find it easier to separate the concept of "name" (which is
strictly the set of legal Python identifiers) with the more general
concept of "target".  Consider this:

>>> L = [1, 2, 3]
>>> L[1:1] = ['foo', 'bar']

What do you call ``L[1:1]``?  I call that a target (and in fact, so do
the Python docs).
-- 
Aahz (aahz at pythoncraft.com)           <*>         http://www.pythoncraft.com/

"All problems in computer science can be solved by another level of     
indirection."  --Butler Lampson