[Python-Dev] method decorators (PEP 318)

[Skip Montanaro]

    Robert> However, the idea of putting such attributes at the same level
    Robert> as the rest of the function block is ugly to me--newbies are
    Robert> going to go mad the first few times, trying to figure out *when*
    Robert> such statements are evaluated. 

An excellent point.  It seems to me that @statements would have to be
restricted to occur only at the beginning of a function (immediately after
the def line or the docstring).  If not, you'll probably get people (newbies
at least) trying to write stuff like this:

    def foo(a):
        if a > 5:
            @attr: "bob"
        elif a > 0:
            @attr: "skip"
        else:
            @attr: "guido"

The other forms (via a decorator, using explicit attribute assignments after
the definition) make it explicit that these attribute assignments don't
occur in the context of function execution.

Skip