PEP 318 - Function Modifier Syntax

[Jonathan Claggett]

Roman Suzi <rnd at onego.ru> wrote:
> the syntax is confusing, because "as" already has a meaning of
> "to be known as":
> 
> import string as s
> from string import split as sp
> 

How about overloading the keyword "is" instead of "as"? As far as
English readability is concerned, this might be clearer. "Is" also
fits in well with established OO terminology (e.g., a square is a
rhombus, a function is a static method).

examples:
    def func(x) is staticmethod:
    def func(x) is cached, synchronized(lock):

Using "is" here could even conceivably lend itself to using the "is"
expression to determine the qualities of a method.

example:
    if func is staticmethod: print "it's static"

Just a thought,
Jonathan

PS. Of course, looking to a highly context sensitive (and downright
weird) language like English for ideas is just begging for trouble ;-)