[Python-Dev] 2.4a2, and @decorators

[Phillip J. Eby]

At 01:14 AM 8/3/04 +1000, Anthony Baxter wrote:
>Barry Warsaw wrote:
>>On Mon, 2004-08-02 at 10:40, Phillip J. Eby wrote:
>>>@decorator won?  When did that happen?
>>
>>First I heard about it was when I saw Anthony's checkin messages.  Maybe
>>it was throwing that pie that inspired Guido -- an '@' does kind of look
>>like a pie.  I think Anthony's checkin message was accurate enough
>>though -- it's the syntax everyone can hate equally.  But I'm glad
>>/something/ made it in!
>>print>>-set-the-precedent-ly y'rs,
>>-Barry
>
>Hey, I was just going off Guido's decision (in email - looking back, it
>wasn't cc'd to python-dev, which probably explains the lack of 400
>followups <wink>)
>
>Channelling the BDFL, I think the idea was to put it in 2.4a2, and see
>how it works for people. If it turns out that it's really really really
>hated, we can try something else in a3. Guido can of course follow up
>to this (hint hint) and give his own answers.

I would think the fact that the '[decorators]' syntax can be implemented in 
pure Python (no changes to the interpreter) for existing Python versions 
would give more weight to it.  That is, if someone wants to implement a 
decorator that's forwards and backwards-compatible, that's possible with 
the list syntax, but not the @ syntax.