[Python-Dev] Re: new syntax for wrapping (PEP 318) (original) (raw)

Shalabh Chaturvedi shalabh at cafepy.com
Thu Feb 26 01:58:54 EST 2004

Hello python-dev people:

Just joined, intro below :)

Barry Warsaw wrote:

I've rewritten some of my code to use both the [] and the 'as' syntax. Neither is ideal, primarily because the interesting information tends to get pushed way off to the right, where I think the eye is lazier because of the more ragged nature of "code right".

Putting the decorator between the def and the method name actually doesn't look so bad to me, e.g.: def [classmethod] func(a, b, c): but I think with a longer decorator list, it might be problematic. I think that one element decorator lists will be the most common use and in that case, I like this syntax because it almost reads like English.

I completely agree. This is the second-most elegant syntax, the most-elegant being:

def classmethod func(a, b, c):

Has this been completely rejected? The pep's argument is it becomes cluttered and obscure when the decorator is a function call:

def synchronized(lock) classmethod func(a):

Can we also require that decorators be identifiers only (no expressions allowed), forcing clean looking definitions? The above would be rewritten as:

sync = synchronized(lock) def sync classmethod func(a):

In fact sync would probably be reused throughout the class body. This keeps simple things simple, and complex things possible. In addition it encourages using few decorators, keeping the def line short. And did I mention no new keywords? The alternatives - using [], (), <> and/or expressions - only make it more cluttered, leaving the simple (and IMO most common) cases hard to read and write. They do provide power that is useful for specific domains, but unnecessary for general purpose programming. Which would be ok (since when is power a bad thing?) if it wasn't at the cost of readability.

Cheers, Shalabh Chaturvedi

PS: I am a software consultant and have been using Python for four years (which includes two years of full time development :-). Needless to say, it is my first choice for solving problems. Recently I have become more interested in development and promotion of Python.

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