[Python-ideas] Super, Hooks, and Aspect Oriented Programming

[Calvin Spealman]

I've been giving some thought to super-calls, and I'm looking to
consolidate the common patterns of its use. I think if we can do that,
we can find a more concise expression of the different uses. So far
I've come up with every use being one or more of the following:

- Do something before the super method is called, optionally changing
the parameters
- Do something after the super method is called, optionally changing
the return value
- Do something with an exception the function raises
- Consume new parameters, used by one or more other hooks in place
- Do something instead of calling the super method, if some condition
is true (such as a particular parameter being present of a specific
type)

Can anyone add to this? Are there any restrictions to the combination
of usage patterns? Obviously, this doesn't capture them all, but can
we capture most of them? If we could, could we wrap them up in some
hook library (3rd party or otherwise)

@before and @after are common enough ideas for decorators already
@catching could be used to catch exceptions raised by the super (or
another) method

How could these patterns consume extra parameters to hand over to one
or more hooks?
How do we do this in a way that we the MRO doesn't mess up what
parameters we consume at what point? I feel the common patterns we see
now are error prone, and finding this concise solution might give us
better control.

I'd love to see something like this included with a future release,
but right now I'm trying to get ideas for what it would look like, so
I can build a library and use it, and others can use it, and it can be
seen if its even useful in real world practice.

-- 
Read my blog! I depend on your acceptance of my opinion! I am interesting!
http://techblog.ironfroggy.com/
Follow me if you're into that sort of thing: http://www.twitter.com/ironfroggy