An alternative to global in Python

Question

I currently have code like this:

cache = 1
def foo():
    global cache
    # many
    # lines
    # of code
    cache = 2

However, this may

Answer 1

"the reader may unintentionally think that the global variable has been updated" isn't much of a pitfall. You have to expect that people reading your code know how Python works. If you want to make it extra clear, use a comment. That's what they're for.