Modifying Class Object
in [Python]
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From: Alf P. Steinbach on 9 Feb 2010 02:19 * Steven D'Aprano: > On Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:01:16 +0100, Alf P. Steinbach wrote: > >> * Stephen Hansen -> Alf P. Steinbach: >>> [snip] >>> To say, "pass by value" implies things to people. It describes a sort >>> of world where I'm a function about to do some work, and on my desk I >>> have a series of boxes with names on it. It describes an environment >>> where someone comes over and drops something into each of my boxes. The >>> contents of these boxes are mine alone! >> Then, when the imprecision makes people misunderstand, one should not >> say that. >> >> One should then be more precise. >> >> One should say /what/ is passed by value. > > I don't see how that matters. Python's behaviour is EXACTLY the same, no > matter what you pass to the function. > > You don't pass pointers in Python, because you, the Python author, have > no way of specifying a pointer in Python code. It is *always* an object > that you pass, by giving a literal, the name an object is bound to, or > some other expression that returns an object: > > function( my_object ) > function( 12345 ) > function( ham(3) + spam(5) ) Every name and literal above (and in Python generally) stands for a copyable reference to an object, not for the object itself. You can copy the reference: a = [123] b = a assert( a is b ) # Doesn't matter if mutable or immutable or what. A copyable reference is a pointer. That is, a "pointer", in e.g. the Java sense, and in the general language independent sense, means a copyable reference -- as illustrated e.g. in the Stanford computer science 101 course page I referred you to earlier, with C versus Java pointers illustrated in the concrete. Hence, since every name and literal above stands for a copyable reference, and since a copyable reference is a pointer, every name and literal above stands for a pointer -- that's /all/ that you handle directly in Python, namely pointers. But if that terminology sounds bad or has too strong C-vibes or Java-vibes or whatever, then we just need some other term for a Python "copyable reference". > If you're talking to the person who writes Python code, then you should > discuss the sorts of things that exist in Python: objects and names and > expressions, but no pointers. Well, given this terminology debate we may need some other term. But IMHO the horse drawing the wagon needs to be mentioned to the potential wagon driver, whatever that horse is called -- fourfooter, drawing-animal... Anything else seems just senseless, meaningless abstraction, replacing one simple single concept with a load of connections and special case rules. > If you're talking about the Python virtual machine, instead of the high- > level Python code, then you should say so -- but there are still no > pointers in the VM. Look at the output of dis.dis and you will see > objects pushed onto a stack, but no pointers. I don't think you will see any Python objects pushed on the stack. But you will see copyable object references pushed on the stack. That is, you will see pointers pushed on the stack. > It's not until you get past the level of Python code, past the virtual > machine, and into the implementation of the virtual machine, that you > will finally find pointers. There too. > But why stop there? If somebody asks you a question about Python, and you > choose to ignore them and answer a different question about one > particular implementation's internals instead, I don't see why you stop > there. Why not go down another layer and talk about copying bytes, or two > layers and answer that Python does call-by-bit-flipping, or a layer below > that and say it's all done by varying potential differences? I think a good professional programmer knows about all these levels. Unfortunately, at least about 10 years ago students fresh out of college in Norway did not know about "internal" things such as call stacks, which led them to adopt many Unholy Programming Practices and to be Extremely Baffled by things such as stack traces. > You shouldn't expect your listener to understand machine code to > understand Python's high-level behaviour, nor should you expect them to > be C coders. You don't need to understand pointers to understand a > language that doesn't support them. From the above comments it seems you're thinking about C pointers. To prevent that misconception I've defined the term "pointer" in every or most every posting I've made in this thread, including this posting. I've also posted a link to a Stanford University page with a simple-words explanation (they even have an animated Bunny video, although I've not looked at it); it's CS 101. You don't have anything /but/ pointers in Python. So pointers are key -- by whatever name. [snip] > Java programmers suffer for a bad mental model just as much as Python > programmers. Yes. :-) > All this is because of two conceptual mistakes: (1) the Java community > has conflated the internals of what happens in the implementation of the > Java VM with high-level Java code; and (2) a refusal to accept that there > are calling strategies other than pass-by-value and pass-by-reference. I'm not entirely sure about causes, but there is a tendency in general for humans to go from one extreme to another that they regard as "opposite". Using the term "call by value" for the Java (and Python) parameter passing is just Wrong(TM), at least without a clear understanding of what can be passed. Using "call by value" in a description of that model, mentioning very clearly what's passed, is on the other hand very practical: it's short, succinct & correct. Cheers & hth., - Alf
From: Steven D'Aprano on 9 Feb 2010 03:21 On Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:19:56 +0100, Alf P. Steinbach wrote: > You don't have anything /but/ pointers in Python. x = 5 y = "hello" You want us to accept that the values of x and y are some mysterious pointer entities rather than the integer object 5 and the string object "hello". At the point that your explanation depends on the reader understanding that the value of a variable x is not actually the thing that they assign to x, but some mysterious, invisible entity that exists entirely inside the implementation where the user can never reach, you probably should rethink your attachment to that explanation. No wonder so many Java programmers are still confused by it. It might help your case if we had a word for the thing that is actually assigned to the variable. In plain English that is "value", but you want to use that for the pointer to the thing-that-we-otherwise-would-call- value, which leaves us no simple way to talk about the int 5 and string "hello". -- Steven
From: Steve Holden on 9 Feb 2010 07:40 Stephen Hansen wrote: > On Mon, Feb 8, 2010 at 6:42 PM, Steve Holden <steve(a)holdenweb.com > <mailto:steve(a)holdenweb.com>> wrote: > > Stephen Hansen wrote: > [...] > > P.S. I couldn't resist. :( > > > > And here I was, sitting on my hands ... but someone was wrong on the > Internet, so D'Aprano had to put them right. Your fatal weakness. > > Of course this won't make the slightest difference. "'When I use a > word,' said Humpty ..." > > > This is getting out of hand. > > First, someone thought I was you. > > Now you think I'm D'Aprano. > > I'm just gonna go by Bob for now on. > > :) > Sorry about that, Bob. But you have to admit your pedantry was rather D'Aprano-like (I have these feeling I just insulted you both with one sentence). regards Steve -- Steve Holden +1 571 484 6266 +1 800 494 3119 PyCon is coming! Atlanta, Feb 2010 http://us.pycon.org/ Holden Web LLC http://www.holdenweb.com/ UPCOMING EVENTS: http://holdenweb.eventbrite.com/
From: Steve Holden on 9 Feb 2010 07:44 Alf P. Steinbach wrote: > * Stephen Hansen: [...] >> I've heard that before, and have no idea why, nor any real interest in >> solving it: I don't want to read cpl via Usenet, and prefer to read it >> as a mailing list. Somewhere between Gmail->python.org->python.org >> <http://python.org>'s usenet server->the world, some people don't seem >> to get my posts. Yet it shows up on some news servers, not others. >> >> No idea. Nothing I know of can solve it. > > Not sure, but perhaps it's possible to mail directly to gmane? > Is there *any* problem you don't have a fatuous answer for? regards Steve -- Steve Holden +1 571 484 6266 +1 800 494 3119 PyCon is coming! Atlanta, Feb 2010 http://us.pycon.org/ Holden Web LLC http://www.holdenweb.com/ UPCOMING EVENTS: http://holdenweb.eventbrite.com/
From: Steve Holden on 9 Feb 2010 10:53
Stephen Hansen wrote: > On Mon, Feb 8, 2010 at 10:35 PM, Alf P. Steinbach <alfps(a)start.no > <mailto:alfps(a)start.no>> wrote: > > Right. > > "pass by value" is a lower level notion. > > And as you show below, in the paragraph marked [1], it can be used > to describe call by sharing very succinctly and precisely, just as I > did... ;-) > > > No. There's nothing at all succinct or precise about either "value" or > "reference" when speaking of programming languages, and using both > together just compounds that. They are loaded words. The phrase "call my > value where value is an object reference" is not clear, not obvious, not > helpful. It requires far too much explanation of every single word > there, depending on the background of who you are speaking to, to > explain how it does not exactly use any of the words in a way which the > person may be expecting, and making sure they understand that it does > not imply anything that those words usually imply. > > I'm not even going to bother further-- I shouldn't have to begin with-- > your entire post is full of arguments with no more weight then, "I say > this means that, and its clearer" with absolutely no regard for the fact > that all of these words have weight and meaning to the world outside of > your head. > [several paragraphs-worth of bothering further] So you didn't believe me when I said > Of course this won't make the slightest difference. "'When I use a > word,' said Humpty ..." regards Steve -- Steve Holden +1 571 484 6266 +1 800 494 3119 PyCon is coming! Atlanta, Feb 2010 http://us.pycon.org/ Holden Web LLC http://www.holdenweb.com/ UPCOMING EVENTS: http://holdenweb.eventbrite.com/ |