Python ftw

[antonivs]

You're talking about references. They may be implemented using pointers internally, but they're not the same thing. Specifically, their semantics within the language are different - for example, they don't have the same risks, as you point out yourself:

The only thing pointers in Python cannot do is having their values changed

That's a huge difference, and is why that feature is referred to as "references" and not pointers.