undefined variables

[perfringo]

I am probably not the brigthest and my feeble mind don't get it. Probably I misinterpret the question or don't comprehend it.

If one will 'comment out the dangerous functions for a while until i am sure it will call them appropriately' how can these functions 'to assign results to a variable'? There is no variable/value 'to exist' (keep) because it has not created in the first place.

If one tries to assign name to non-existing function result then it will raise NameError and variable will not come into existance:

>>> meaning_of_life = fourty_two()
/.../
NameError: name 'fourty_two' is not defined
>>> meaning_of_life
/.../
NameError: name 'meaning_of_life' is not defined

My understanding is that in order to 'continue to exist' one must run 'dangerous' function at least once.

On unrelated note:

If I want to check whether value exists then I would do simple try..except:

try: 
    x
except NameError:
    x = # assign some value

If I want to have some predefined variables then I put them at the start of the script. If I uncomment function then it just overwrites predefined value.