Confused about pep 318

[Steven Bethard]

Skip Montanaro <skip at pobox.com> wrote in message news:<mailman.1160.1091658179.5135.python-list at python.org>...
>
> the new syntax will be:
> 
>     @onexit
>     def func():
>         ...

Wow, this one really feels like it was slipped in while no one was
looking.  While I don't go to Python conferences, I do occasionally
check python-dev, and I totally missed whatever thread introduced the
@ syntax.  Scary...

Not a big fan of this syntax -- no intuitive reason why @ would mean
decorator -- but I presume this has already been complained about... 
Could someone direct me to the discussions about this?  I'd like to
see why it was the eventual favored syntax...

Steve