Modifying Class Object

[Steve Howell]

On Feb 13, 11:21 pm, Steven D'Aprano <st... at REMOVE-THIS-
cybersource.com.au> wrote:
> On Sat, 13 Feb 2010 21:33:50 -0800, Steve Howell wrote:
> > You seem to be missing the point that "curly braces" is a concrete
> > term that very specifically applies to spelling.
>
> And you seem to be missing the point that "pointer" is also a concrete
> term that very specifically applies to, well, pointers.
>

The term "pointer" is very abstract.  Please give me a concrete
definition of a pointer.

A curly brace is one of these: { }

Pretty concrete, I hope.

> [...]
>
> > I agree that "reference" is a much better term than "pointer.". It has
> > the right amount of generalness in my opinion. I think "violence" is a
> > bit overstated, but your bigger point is well taken and it seems like
> > "reference" is useful middle ground between pure cpython language and
> > misrepresentative analogy.
>
> But reference also has a concrete meaning: C++ has a type explicitly
> called "reference":
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reference_(C++)
>

Of course, "reference" has concrete meanings in specific contexts.
But I can refer you to much more general and abstract uses of the term
"reference."  Do you want references?   I will be happy to refer you
to appropriate references.


> And of course call-by-reference (or pass-by-reference) has a specific,
> technical meaning.
>

Which is what?