J2 proposal: keyword

[Peter Hansen]

Robert Brewer wrote:

> III. Choosing a keyword
[snip good list of principles]
> -Candidates for keywords have fallen into two or three camps, and
> emphasize different aspects of decorators: 
> 
> -Declarative: declare, predef, moddef 
> -Transformative: transform, wrap, modify, mutate 
> -Attributive/Annotative: amend, using, having 
> -Directive: pragma, signify 
> -Associative: helper, qualify, qual, meta 
> -Cross-cutting: imbue, endow, bestow, embellish, extend, accum, glom,
> confer
> -Prepositions/Adverbs: using, through, per, via, by
> 
> I had an ugly paragraph promoting 'declare' as a top candidate, but I've
> always liked 'using' (which many of you promoted within the past 24
> hours). Maybe the above will produce further polarization among you. ;)

+1 on "using" as the best of the choices above.

I find the declarative ones awkward, transform inappropriate when
transforming is not going on, attributive ones okay (but "amend"
sounds like it must come afterwards), directive too compiler-like,
associative not bad but too abstract, cross-cutting too much like
"decorate" not to mention sort of frivolous-sounding, and prepositions
mostly too vague (except for "using" again).

-Peter