[Python-Dev] method decorators (PEP 318) (original) (raw)

Barry Warsaw barry at python.org
Sat Mar 27 00:27:33 EST 2004

On Fri, 2004-03-26 at 10:10, Guido van Rossum wrote:

(2) Invent some other notation for setting function attributes as part of the function body, before the doc string even.

For (2) I am thinking aloud here: def foobar(self, arg): @author: "Guido van Rossum" @deprecated pass

The way I /want/ to spell this is something like:

def foobar(self, arg): foobar.author = 'Guido van Rossum' foobar.deprecated = True

I know all the practical problems with this suggestion, but to me, that's the most natural spelling. I suppose something like this might also not be horrible:

def foobar [ .author = 'Guido van Rossum' .deprecated = True classmethod ] (self, arg)

Naw, these probably don't mix well. Hmm,

def foobar { author = 'Guido van Rossum' deprecated = True } [classmethod, spoogemethod, insanity ] (self, arg): # Now what the heck does this thing do?

Blech.

OTOH, I'm all for trying to get a more natural way of spelling function attributes, but decorators can also do the trick in a nasty way:

def foobar [ lambda f: f.author = 'Guido van Rossum', lambda f: f.deprecated = True, classmethod] (self, arg): # Now what?

It's way past my bedtime so ignore my babbling. -Barry

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