Do you use the "global" statement in Python? [closed]

I use 'global' in a context such as this:

_cached_result = Nonedef myComputationallyExpensiveFunction():    global _cached_result    if _cached_result:       return _cached_result    # ... figure out result    _cached_result = result    return result

I use 'global' because it makes sense and is clear to the reader of the function what is happening. I also know there is this pattern, which is equivalent, but places more cognitive load on the reader:

def myComputationallyExpensiveFunction():    if myComputationallyExpensiveFunction.cache:        return myComputationallyExpensiveFunction.cache    # ... figure out result    myComputationallyExpensiveFunction.cache = result    return resultmyComputationallyExpensiveFunction.cache = None

I've never had a legit use for the statement in any production code in my 3+ years of professional use of Python and over five years as a Python hobbyist. Any state I need to change resides in classes or, if there is some "global" state, it sits in some shared structure like a global cache.

I've used it in situations where a function creates or sets variables which will be used globally. Here are some examples:

discretes = 0def use_discretes():    #this global statement is a message to the parser to refer     #to the globally defined identifier "discretes"    global discretes    if using_real_hardware():        discretes = 1...

or

file1.py:    def setup():        global DISP1, DISP2, DISP3        DISP1 = grab_handle('display_1')        DISP2 = grab_handle('display_2')        DISP3 = grab_handle('display_3')        ...file2.py:    import file1    file1.setup()    #file1.DISP1 DOES NOT EXIST until after setup() is called.    file1.DISP1.resolution = 1024, 768