[Python-Dev] Lexical scoping in Python 3k (original) (raw)

Andrew Koenig ark at acm.org
Sat Jul 1 21:06:38 CEST 2006

What about doing something similar to how import was changed?

.a = 5 # this scope (self might be too magical ..a = 3 # up one scope ...a # up three Of course, this looks ... perhaps a bit strange. Also, counting is a bother.

I'd rather see a simpler rule: = never defines a variable in a surrounding scope. If you want to affect the binding of such a variable, you have to define it explicitly in the scope in which you want it.

Example:

x = 42
def f():
    x = 123		# rebinds x as defined above
    y = 123		# defines local variable
f()
print x			# prints 123
print y			# error -- y not defined

Yes, I know that rule is too simplistic. But I think I'd still prefer it to the way things are now.

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