How does a symbol table relate to a namespace?
<p>The official tutorial uses the term <em>symbol table</em> in a few places where I would expect the term <em>namespace</em>.</p>

<p><sub>1. <a href="http://docs.python.org/3.3/tutorial/controlflow.html#defining-functions">Defining functions</a></sub> </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>The execution of a function introduces a new symbol table used for the
  local variables of the function. More precisely, all variable
  assignments in a function store the value in the local symbol table;
  whereas variable references first look in the local symbol table, then
  in the local symbol tables of enclosing functions, then in the global
  symbol table, and finally in the table of built-in names.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><sub>2. <a href="http://docs.python.org/3.3/tutorial/modules.html#more-on-modules">More on modules</a></sub>  </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Each module has its own private symbol table, which is used as the
  global symbol table by all functions defined in the module. Thus, the
  author of a module can use global variables in the module without
  worrying about accidental clashes with a user’s global variables.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I found <a href="http://eli.thegreenplace.net/2010/09/18/python-internals-symbol-tables-part-1/">Eli Bendersky's blog</a> where he quotes the <a href="http://docs.python.org/3.3/library/symtable.html">symtable</a> module:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Symbol tables are generated by the compiler from AST just before
  bytecode is generated. The symbol table is responsible for calculating
  the scope of every identifier in the code.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>So it seems like a symbol table precedes a namespace. Yet another quote, from the first source, leads me to believe they also exist at the same time.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>The actual parameters (arguments) to a function call are introduced in
  the local symbol table of the called function when it is called; thus,
  arguments are passed using call by value (where the value is always an
  object reference, not the value of the object).<sup>1</sup></p>
</blockquote>

<p>Is a symbol table involved with the creation of a namespace? Does a symbol table "contain" a namespace or simply information that a namespace contains?
In short,
how does a symbol table relate to a namespace?</p>
