having both dynamic and static variables

[Westley Martínez]

On Sun, 2011-03-06 at 07:58 +0000, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> On Sat, 05 Mar 2011 20:33:49 -0800, Westley Martínez wrote:
> 
> > On Sat, 2011-03-05 at 18:37 -0800, John Nagle wrote:
> >>     It's worth having some syntax for constants.  I'd suggest
> >> using "let":
> 
> +1 on syntax for constants. -0 for "let". I'd prefer something more 
> explicit, like "const".
> 
> > I'm against constants, for the purpose of "programmers should be smart
> > enough to not set a variable to another value that should be static",
> 
> Most programmers are smart enough not to rebind names which should be 
> constant. The problem is, how do you know which names should be constant?
> 
> A naming convention like ALL_CAPITALS helps, but not everybody sticks to 
> the convention. Also, if constants are enforced by the compiler, that 
> opens the door for many optimizations that currently Python can't do even 
> in principle.
> 
> 
> 
> > but if Python were to have constants I think it would be better to use
> > something more descriptive than 'let'. Also, because the defined
> > constant is static, I think it would be better to use 'is' instead of
> > '='. Example:
> 
> No, we're talking about assignment, not a comparison operator. The `is` 
> operator is equivalent to `==`, equals, not assignment.
> 
> 
> -- 
> Steven
I'm confused. Can someone tell me if we're talking about constant as in
'fixed in memory' or as in 'you can't reassign' or both?