[Python-Dev] Re: PEP 318: Decorators last before colon (original) (raw)

Michel Pelletier michel at dialnetwork.com
Wed Mar 31 13:59:33 EST 2004

Message: 1 Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 18:10:23 +0200 From: Simon Percivall <s.percivall at chello.se> Subject: Re: [Python-Dev] Re: PEP 318: Decorators last before colon

I've been following this discussion closely and I would like to voice my opinion.

Please don't add any decorator syntax to Python, at least not yet. All of the proposals I have seen so far are, to be blunt, and in my opinion of course, ugly and are getting uglier as the discussion ensues.

I see nothing wrong, at least for the present, with the status quo decorators that follow a function or class definition. They are explicit, functionally equivalent, use the existing and completely understandable syntax, and are so rarely used by only the most experienced and advanced programmers that violating the beauty of the language is unjustified.

I'm not sure is the best solution but it sure is better than [decorator].

I think they're both bad, especially on the line preceding the definition.

Someone learning Python will probably be profoundly confused when seeing that special case.

I agree.

It also really feels like the decorators are decoupled from the function.

And to me they always were and always will be even with the help of syntax sugar. I can accept that, in the rarest cases that I need to use them.

What's worse, if any of these proposals were to be accepted, I will have to go and look up the special syntax in those very rarest cases, instead of just spelling it the way that seems most natural to me, as a Python programmer.

The coupling between the decorators and the function would perhaps not appear to be greater with another syntax; but it would stand out.

Unlike docstrings which are used a lot and which documentation and books explain early on, decorators won't be used that much.

I agree wholeheartedly, which is why I would hate to see special syntax.

-Michel

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