Pylint invalid constant name

Question

I'm receiving a Pylint error regarding my constant: MIN_SOIL_PARTICLE_DENS (invalid name). Any ideas why this constant is wrong? Here's my full function:

def bulk_density(clay, sand, organic_matter):
    MIN_SOIL_PARTICLE_DENS = 2.65
    x1 = (0.078 + 0.278 * sand + 0.034 * clay + 0.022 * organic_matter - 0.018
          * sand * organic_matter - 0.027 * clay * organic_matter - 0.584 * sand
          * clay)
    x2 = -0.107 + 1.636 * x1
    field_capacity = vol_water_content_33_j_kg(clay, sand, organic_matter)#m3/m3
    sat_water_content = 0.043 + field_capacity + x2 - 0.097 * sand
    return (1 - sat_water_content) * MIN_SOIL_PARTICLE_DENS

Answer 1

When checking names, Pylint differentiates between constants, variables, classes etc. Any name that is not inside a function/class will be considered a constant, anything else is a variable.

See http://docs.pylint.org/features.html#basic-checker

variable-rgx:
[a-z_][a-z0-9_]{2,30}$

const-rgx:
(([A-Z_][A-Z0-9_]*)|(__.*__))$

Because you're in a function, MIN_SOIL_PARTICLE_DENS is (according to pylint) supposed to be a variable, pylint however treats it as a constant and therefore complains.

This means you can't have any uppercase names inside functions without pylint complaining.

---

If you ask me, using uppercase inside functions is fine; not all constants are necessarily defined globally.