[Python-ideas] Augmented assignment syntax for objects.

[Nick Timkovich]

I was wondering that if there are so many arguments to a function that it
*looks* ugly, that it might just *be* ugly.

For one, too many required arguments to a function (constructor, whatever)
is already strange. Binding them as attributes of the object, unmodified in
a constructor also seems to be rare. Matplotlib, for example, might take 8
(optional keyword) arguments for a Figure (
https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/blob/master/lib/matplotlib/figure.py#L268),
but then at a bare minimum, the vertical space required is *doubled* by the
need for pesky if-blocks and logic. Self-assignment is a pittance.

Are there any better examples of where adding new syntax could help
readability for programmers, both new and old?

On Wed, Apr 26, 2017 at 9:59 AM, Erik <python at lucidity.plus.com> wrote:

> On 26/04/17 13:19, Joao S. O. Bueno wrote:
>
>> On 25 April 2017 at 19:30, Erik <python at lucidity.plus.com> wrote:
>>
>>> decorators don't cut it anyway (at least not those
>>> proposed) because they blindly assign ALL of the arguments. I'm more than
>>> happy to hear of something that solves both of those problems without
>>> needing syntax changes though, as that means I can have it today ;)
>>>
>>
>> Sorry -  a decorator won't "blindly assign all argments" - it will do
>> that just if it is written to do so.
>>
>
> Right, and the three or four variants suggested (and the
> vars(self).update() suggestion) all do exactly that. I was talking about
> the specific responses (though I can see my language is vague).
>
> [FWIW I've been using Python the whole time that decorators have existed
> and I've yet to need to write one - I've _used_ some non-parameterized ones
> though - so I guess I'd forgotten that they can take parameters]
>
> E.
>
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