Terminology: "reference" versus "pointer"
Rustom Mody
rustompmody at gmail.com
Sat Sep 12 12:54:24 EDT 2015
On Saturday, September 12, 2015 at 10:02:40 PM UTC+5:30, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> On Sat, 12 Sep 2015 02:42 pm, Random832 wrote:
>
> > Anyway, maybe we do need a term to distinguish Python/C#/Java pointers
> > from C/C++ pointers - maybe call it a "non-arithmetic" pointer, since
> > the key thing about it is you can't do pointer arithmetic on them to get
> > the object "next to" the one it points at.
>
> How about *just don't call them pointers*? You know, since they aren't
> pointers in the computer science sense.
>
> The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing defines "pointer":
>
> 1. <programming> An address, from the point of view of a
> programming language. A pointer may be typed, with its type
> indicating the type of data to which it points.
<snip>
> Insisting that Python has pointers is like insisting that you use a text
> editor by flipping bits. "What happens if I press Ctrl-X?" "Well, these
> bits on the screen flip from black to white, these bits flip from white to
> black, and these stay the same."
>
This is from the docs
https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#id
id(object)
Return the "identity" of an object. This is an integer which is guaranteed to be unique and constant for this object during its lifetime. Two objects with non-overlapping lifetimes may have the same id() value.
CPython implementation detail: This is the address of the object in memory.
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