Oh please, please, can I answer! They are decorators. Check-out http://zephyrfalcon.org/weblog2/arch_e10_00610.html#e610 (decorate this), or http://paddy3118.blogspot.com/ " Python function attributes" and then " Function Attributes assigned by decorator". Of course there is also: http://wiki.python.org/moin/PythonDecoratorLibrary - Pad.