OBJECT ODDITIES

Although Python always creates objects when you create a variable, it's important to understand the association between the name, the object, and the variable. In truth, Python stores references or pointers to the internal structures used to store the information for a specific object type. This is the equivalent of the Perl reference – a Python object is merely the address of a structure stored in memory, in the same way that a scalar reference in Perl is merely a reference to the real variable type stored in memory.

With Perl, the programmer also has to make a conscious effort to use a reference as a specific data type. You must dereference a Perl reference before you can access the information. If you don't dereference, or ...

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