Question

I know that “variable assignment” in python is in fact a binding / re-bindign of a name (the variable) to an object.

This brings the question: is it possible to have proper assignment in python, eg make an object equal to another object?

I guess there is no need for that in python:

1. Inmutable objects cannot be ‘assigned to’ since they can’t be changed

2. Mutable objects could potentially be assigned to, since they can change, and this could be useful, since you may want to manipulate a copy of dictionary separately from the original one. However, in these cases the python philosophy is to offer a cloning method on the mutable object, so you can bind a copy rather than the original.

So I guess the answer is that there is no assignment in python, the best way to mimic it would be binding to a cloned object

I simply wanted to share the question in case I’m missing something important here

Thanks

EDIT:

Both Lie Ryan and Sven Marnach answers are good, I guess the overall answer is a mix of both:

For user defined types, use the idiom:

a.dict = dict(b.dict)

(I guess this has problems as well if the assigned class has redefined attribute access methods, but lets not be fussy :))

For mutable built-ins (lists and dicts) use the cloning / copying methods they provide (eg slices, update)

finally inmutable built-ins can’t be changed so can’t be assigned

I’ll choose Lie Ryan because it’s an elegant idiom that I hadn’t thought of.

Thanks!

Answer 1

This brings the question: is it
possible to have proper assignment in
python, eg make an object equal to
another object?

Yes you can:

a.__dict__ = dict(b.__dict__)

will do the default assignment semantic in C/C++ (i.e. do a shallow assignment).

The problem with such generalized assignment is that it never works for everybody. In C++, you can override the assignment operator since you always have to pick whether you want a fully shallow assignment, fully deep assignment, or any shade between fully deep copy and fully shallow copy.