[Python-Dev] Strawman decision: @decorator won't change

[Paul McGuire]

"Peter Otten" <__peter__ at web.de> wrote in message
news:cibkl1$395$07$1 at news.t-online.com...
> I took the freedom to forward GvR's mail concerning decorator cosmetics.
> I think you should know about it.
>
> Peter
>
Why? Sounds like the same rigged rules as before.  Who wants to burn up any
more cycles on this?

I don't have a problem with GvR making his decisions about the language -
it's his.  I do have a problem with his asking for input, under terms that
are so unlikely to permit that input to have any influence, and then patting
himself on the back for polling the user community for their comments.  And
he wonders at the "near-complete silence following my rejection of J2"???
(For that matter, why didn't Guido post this 7-day discussion period on
c.l.py himself?  Makes one wonder how seriously he really wants any more
input.)

Ultimately, this choice will boil down to Guido's own sense of esthetics.
He has already dismissed/discounted arguments against '@' based on usage in
other tools or language implementations.  And there is little sense in
trying to marshal argument and rhetoric on the
etymology/semantics/verbalizations/human factors of '@' vs. '|' vs. '>>' or
whatever - these go so far adrift into meta-space that they quickly lose
focus on the original topic, and thereby reinforce GvR's impression that
this discussion has no emerging consensus or coherence.

I and many others have offered our feedback (i.e., complained) that '@' is
an offense to the eye, a blot on Python's heretofore cleanness of syntax and
form, and implicit readability.  '@' doesn't *mean* anything.  At least '|'
brings a "pipe" semantic from Unix, or '^' evokes a "return" concept from
Smalltalk, or '>>' the notion of "stream" from C++.  When I see '@', the
first thing I think of is e-mail, and the second thing I think of is an
invoice ("20 widgets @ $0.25 = $5.00").

So what?  It all boils down to "I like 'X'", "Well, I like 'Y'", to "Thanks
for your feedback, the answer is '@'."

-- Paul