[Tutor] pointers for python?

[Gonçalo Rodrigues]

On Sat, 4 Oct 2003 14:29:14 +1200, you wrote:

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>On Sat, 04 Oct 2003 13:28, Gonçalo Rodrigues wrote:
>>
>> Why not the perfectly Pythonic solution
>>
>> >>> def inc(x):
>>
>> ... 	return x + 1
>> ...
>>
>> >>> a = 1
>> >>> a = inc(a)
>> >>> a
>
>
>I waned to do it without having to return a variable.... If it can't be done. 
>that's fine, but i was hoping to be able to do it without a "return"....

P. Brown in another reply gave you another answer involving the global
keyword -- but it's ugly and unpythonic IMHO and it only works for
global names (e.g. module-level). Right now I can't remember of any
other solution -- and I suspect any such would involve some dangerous
hackery.

Maybe the question should be: why do you want to write C code in
Python? In Python, variables are just names referencing an object
(said to be binded (bounded?) to that object). The line above

a = inc(a)

just rebinds the name "a" to whatever inc(a) returns. In C, a variable
is more of a placeholder -- a real location in memory -- that's why
you need, or at least one of the reasons why you need, all those
tricks with pass-by-reference and whatnot. So I repeat my question:

Why do you want to write C code in Python?

YMMV, but wouldn't it be better just trying to get in the Pythonic
mindset? 

With my best regards,
G. Rodrigues