Tim Roberts wrote:
The 'def' statement in Python is an executable statement. Executing
it has the effect of creating a function object and binding it to
the indicated name. Before that has happened, attempting to execute
any code referring to that name will fail.
Conversely, the function name doesn't need to be bound until the
code referring to it is actually executed. So...
have been executed, and both function names have therefore been
bound.
--
Greg
--
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Hello folks - I understand all of the above (well I suppose intuitively based on the below) but had a longtime question and this is an opportunity to ask. I have a B.A. in Linguistics and there was a topic they teach 'binding theory'. This was taught in the graduate classes or some that I didn't take. I will bet that these things are related - binding theory and this tossing around of words in software development like 'bound' and 'binding them'. So I am wondering if you learned this in Computer Science or Computer Engineering?, on the job? Is there a different theory in Computer Science than I would find in linguistics?Andre Majorel wrote:
Actually, it's more illuminating to say that it *creates* a function.Anyway, it seems the Python way to declare a function is
def f ():
pass
No, that DEFINES a function.def f ():
pass
The 'def' statement in Python is an executable statement. Executing
it has the effect of creating a function object and binding it to
the indicated name. Before that has happened, attempting to execute
any code referring to that name will fail.
Conversely, the function name doesn't need to be bound until the
code referring to it is actually executed. So...
def g():
return f()
def f():
return 3
print g()
works because by the time g is *called*, both def statementsreturn f()
def f():
return 3
print g()
have been executed, and both function names have therefore been
bound.
--
Greg
--
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
OK - so I just grabbed one of my semantics books and found one thing in the index 'bound occurence of a reference in a formula', doesn't really help. It is in the Predicate Logic section and just used while he is trying to explain something else, used in context.
Thanks
Patty
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