__metaclass__ and __author__ are already decorators

[Leif K-Brooks]

Paul Morrow wrote:
> And I don't agree that this would be assigning new 'meaning' to an old 
> syntax.  When a programmer creates a __xxx__ class attribute, he is not 
> trying to create a normal 'class' attribute --- one the is inherited by 
> instances of the class or that holds part of the 'state' of the class. 
> Instead, he is trying to make a meta statement about the class (who 
> wrote it, what happens during instance initialization, etc.).  In that 
> sense, the meaning associated with defining __xxx__ attributes would 
> stay the same.

If we were talking about something like this:

def foo(self):
     pass
foo.__author__ = "Leif K-Brooks"

then you would be correct. But when syntax normally used for assigning 
to a variable magically assigns to an attribute if the variable name 
starts and ends with "__", then it's an existing syntax (variable 
assignment) being used for something new (attribute assignment). Why 
should this:

def foo(self):
     bar = 42

mean anything different from this?

def foo(self):
     __bar__ = 42