Hi Chris, James has already given a response but I can't resist also chiming in, see below:
On 11 July 2012 15:30, Chris Hare <ch...@labr.net> wrote: > I like where this is going Walter. I guess where I am confused is this: > > the globals are not static - they are set once and then won't change during > the lifetime of the user's session. Whether they change or not is beside the question. They can get set once, they can be set multiple times, it really doesn't matter. > So, after messing around with the ram DB idea, I realized I was back to the > same problem. Exactly. :) > Let's say I create a dictionary to store all of the "globals" and other data > I want available everywhere and I put that in a class. > Every time I create > an instance of the class to be able to access the data, Now why do you think that you need to instantiate the class everytime you want to access the same data? Just damn well create the object once and use it when you need it. Do you not know that your own objects can be treated as a parameters to a methods/functions just like any other Python object or type? > a new instance of the dictionary is created that loads the same data in it. > Seems kinda inefficient for me, especially if the data changes in one > instance - how do you keep the others all in sync, or does that just happen > automatically? Well exactly. Just use the same object everywhere! > I think there is something that I fundamentally not understanding and I don't > know what it is. Am I making this too complicated? Yes and yes. I think you are getting confused with and are maybe conflating the names an object might be associated to (and the namespaces those names live in), the lifetime of an object might have (e.g. when is it created, when does it get destroyed.), and where objects may be access from. A lot might be said about this but suffice it to say that you should conceptualize objects as staying in existence until the last reference to them is removed (reference being either a name label or entry another container object reference such as a list.) Secondly, all you need to access an object is a reference to it -- either a name label or direct reference (e.g. as passed in a container such as a list.) The reference may be received as a parameter to a function or method either directly or indirectly, or code may fetch it from a suitable module itself by importing the module. (Which incidentally is also an object.) Anyway I don't have time to elaborate more right now but I suggest you try to read up on these topics a bit yourself first and then experiment apart from the program you're working on to help cement the various basic ideas surrounding objects & their lifetimes, references to objects, passing parameters and so on. Then come back with more questions. Walter _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org To unsubscribe or change subscription options: http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
