[Python-Dev] PEP for Better Control of Nested Lexical Scopes (original) (raw)

Almann T. Goo almann.goo at gmail.com
Thu Feb 23 02:12:29 CET 2006

Oddly, in Python, 'global' isn't actually necessary, since the module can always import itself and use attribute access.

Clearly, though, Guido must have thought at the time that it was worth providing an alternative way.

I believe that use cases for rebinding globals (module attributes) from within a module are more numerous than rebinding in an enclosing lexical scope (although rebinding a name in the global scope from a local scope is really just a specific case of that). I would think this was probably a motivator for the 'global' key word to avoid clumsier workarounds. Since there were no nested lexical scopes back then, there was no need to have a construct for arbitrary enclosing scopes.

-Almann

-- Almann T. Goo almann.goo at gmail.com

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