def init_variable(v, init, name="init"):
  """Initializes variable with "init".

  This op does the following:
  if init is a Tensor, v = init
  if callable(init): v = init(VariableShape(v), v.dtype)

  Args:
    v: Variable to initialize
    init: Tensor to assign to v,
      Or an object convertible to Tensor e.g. nparray,
      Or an Initializer that generates a tensor given the shape and type of v.
      An "Initializer" is a callable that returns a tensor that "v" should be
      set to. It will be called as init(shape, dtype).
    name: Optional name for the op.

  Returns:
    The operation that initializes v.
  """
  with ops.name_scope(None, v.op.name + "/", [v, init]):
    with ops.name_scope(name) as scope:
      with ops.colocate_with(v):
        if callable(init):
          assert v.get_shape().is_fully_defined(), "Variable shape unknown."
          # TODO(mrry): Convert to v.shape when the property and
          # accessor are reconciled (and all initializers support
          # tf.TensorShape objects).
          value = init(v.get_shape().as_list(), v.dtype.base_dtype)
          value = ops.convert_to_tensor(value, name="value")
          return gen_state_ops.assign(v, value, name=scope)
        else:
          init = ops.convert_to_tensor(init, name="init")
          return gen_state_ops.assign(v, init, name=scope)

def assign(ref, value, validate_shape=None, use_locking=None, name=None):
  """Update 'ref' by assigning 'value' to it.

  This operation outputs a Tensor that holds the new value of 'ref' after
    the value has been assigned. This makes it easier to chain operations
    that need to use the reset value.

  Args:
    ref: A mutable `Tensor`.
      Should be from a `Variable` node. May be uninitialized.
    value: A `Tensor`. Must have the same type as `ref`.
      The value to be assigned to the variable.
    validate_shape: An optional `bool`. Defaults to `True`.
      If true, the operation will validate that the shape
      of 'value' matches the shape of the Tensor being assigned to.  If false,
      'ref' will take on the shape of 'value'.
    use_locking: An optional `bool`. Defaults to `True`.
      If True, the assignment will be protected by a lock;
      otherwise the behavior is undefined, but may exhibit less contention.
    name: A name for the operation (optional).

  Returns:
    A `Tensor` that will hold the new value of 'ref' after
      the assignment has completed.
  """
  if ref.dtype._is_ref_dtype:
    return gen_state_ops.assign(
        ref, value, use_locking=use_locking, name=name,
        validate_shape=validate_shape)
  return ref.assign(value, name=name)