[Tutor] Perl vs. Python's way of handling references.

[Jay Dorsey]

Scott Chapman wrote:

> Here's two code snippets, one in Perl, the other Python:
> 
> 
>>$ perl
>>$one = 1;
>>$two = 2;
>>%dict = ( a => 'one', b => 'two' );
>>print ${ $dict{a} }, "\n"
>>Ctrl-D
>>1
>>
>>The above in python ... You have to say:
>>
>>$ python
>>Python 2.2.1 (#1, Aug 30 2002, 12:15:30)
>>[GCC 3.2 20020822 (Red Hat Linux Rawhide 3.2-4)] on linux2
>>Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>
>>
>>>>>one = 1
>>>>>two = 2
>>>>>dict = {'a':'one','b':'two'}
>>>>>print vars()[ dict['a'] ]
>>
>>1
>>
>>notice how you have to use the vars function instead of a simple memory
>>lookup as you do in perl. Its no big deal for this simple case, but when
>>your data structures are deeply nested, it makes a huge difference.
> 
> 
> I've been discussing this issue regarding on the Perl Tutor list.  I'm new to 
> Python and fairly new to Perl and I'd like to learn how significant this 
> issue is "when your data structures are deeply nested" from the perspective 
> of Python programmers who've had to deal with this issue.
> 
> Is there a better way of dealing with this issue that I'm not seeing here 
> (better than using the vars() construct)?
> 
> TIA,
> Scott
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Tutor maillist  -  Tutor@python.org
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
I'm most likely not understanding the question properly (never worked in
Perl before,
still fairly new to Python), but are you looking for this syntax:

>>> one = 1
>>> two = 2
>>> dict = {'a':one,'b':two}
>>> print dict['a']
1

jay