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

[Russell E. Owen]

In article <c1k9fm$hrf$1 at sea.gmane.org>,
 Pete Shinners <pete at shinners.org> wrote:

> I'm not too concerned about the syntax. All current proposals weigh about 
> equal to me. Although I don't believe "as" makes documentation lookup much 
> easier.
> 
> I think this feature will be another one of those positive changes that 
> effects the entire way python is used. The kind of thing like iterators, 
> string methods, etc. I've been playing with the idea for awhile and can 
> throw out some extra use cases.
> 
> Some of these may even be bad ideas apon further thought, but it's something 
> to ponder.
> 
> 
> def main() [__main__]:
>      """specify a function to be run if __name__=='__main__'. this
>      would need some other python tricks to actually work."""
> 
> def cleanup() [sys.atexit]:
>      """ensures this function is called when program quits."""
>...

This looks like too much magic to me -- a recipe for making tricky and 
hard-to-read code.

I would rather focus on the heart of PEP 318 and try to make class and 
static methods easier to declare, e.g. something like:

def classmethod foo(self, ...):

If one supports arbitrary modifier functions and lists of modifier 
functions I think readability is really going to suffer.

I'm usually in favor of generality, but reading the examples above and 
others presented in this thread really makes me shudder.

-- Russell