[Python-Dev] Re: Decorators with arguments are curries! (original) (raw)

Guido van Rossum guido at python.org
Sat Aug 7 18:29:44 CEST 2004

The primary issues were: (1) That decorators with vs. without arguments look inconsistent, like function calls vs. function references, and (2) that consequentially, decorator syntax is implicitly introducing a non-viable currying syntax.

I think you're mistaken. When using @foo, foo should be a function taking one argument; when using @foo(x,y,z), the call to foo(x,y,z) should return a function of one argument (or an equivalent callable object, of course). This is often done by defining an inner "helper" function, e.g.:

def funcattrs(**kwds):
def helper(func):
    func.__dict__.update(kwds)
return helper

@funcattr(counter=42, obsolete=True)
def foobar():
pass

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)

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