From: Alf P. Steinbach on
* alex23:
> "Alf P. Steinbach" <al...(a)start.no> wrote:
>> Hm. While most everything I've seen at effbot.org has been clear and to the
>> point, that particular article reads like a ton of obfuscation.
>
> Must. Resist. Ad hominem.
>
>> Python passes pointers by value, just as e.g. Java does.
>>
>> There, it needed just 10 words or so. :-)
>
> 10 words _plus_ an understanding of Java.

No, one only needs an understanding of "pointer".

"Pointer" is a mostly language independent concept.

The reference to the Java language spec, where that term is used for this, was
just an unsuccessful attempt to keep out word-play arguments based on the
incompatibility of some incompatible meaning of "pointer"...


Cheers & hth.,

- Alf
From: MRAB on
Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> On Mon, 08 Feb 2010 02:51:05 +0100, Alf P. Steinbach wrote:
>
>> Python passes pointers by value, just as e.g. Java does.
>
> How do I get a pointer in pure Python code (no ctypes)? I tried both
> Pascal and C syntax (^x and *x), but both give syntax errors.
>
In Pascal it's x^.

> For that matter, how do I get a pointer in Java code?
>
> If Python doesn't have pointers, then why are you talking about Python
> passing pointers? It's a vacuous truth, like saying that Python passes
> dinosaurs by name.
>

From: MRAB on
Alf P. Steinbach wrote:
> * Steve Holden:
>> Alf P. Steinbach wrote:
>>> * Steve Holden:
>> [...]
>>>> Alf:
>>>>
>>>> This topic was discussed at great, nay interminable, length about a
>>>> year
>>>> ago. I'd appreciate it if you would search the archives and read what
>>>> was said then rather than hashing the whole topic over again to
>>>> nobody's
>>>> real advantage.
>>> Well that's my point, and thanks for backing me up on that :-): it's
>>> very simple, and as demonstrated can be expressed in 10 words or less
>>> (plus perhaps a terminology reference, as I did above), so all that
>>> discussion and in particular the lengthy article at effbot serves as
>>> obfuscation and nothing else.
>>>
>> Please don't assume I was trying to support you. Your remarks showed
>> considerable ignorance of issue that were extremely nuanced. Whatever
>> point you were trying to make was lost in your self-aggrandizing
>> disrespect of Fredrik Lundh, a software engineer of some repute with a
>> long history of contribution to Python. The fact that your post was
>> basically a restatement of one of the several competing positions in
>> that thread makes it no more right than any of the others.
>
> What on Earth are you babbling about?
>
> Perhaps next you'll drag in the Pope, saying I've shown him some
> disrespect.
>
> News for you: the Pope ain't participating.
>
[snip]

The Pope isn't (as far as we know) a Pythonista.
From: Steve Holden on
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 ..."

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/
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From: MRAB on
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.
>
> :)
>
> --B
>
Bruce would be less confusing. :-)