PEP 318

[Nicolas Fleury]

Marco Bubke wrote:
> def foo(x, y) as staticmethode: pass
> 
> Define foo with arguments x and y as staticmethode.
> 
> Is Python now C++? Mabe I miss something why this syntax is wrong.

Personnally, I prefer the "as" syntax to the other proposed (and by a 
large margin).  However, I feel that it is making the language more 
complex and I'm far from sure it's worth the effort.  I've given some 
Python courses, and the first reaction when showing a class with some 
methods is something like "so I guess when the first parameter is not 
named 'self' it makes a class method?".  So I have to explain it's not 
the case, etc.

If easing the creation of class methods is so important, I would prefer 
a more radical approach with a end result that would be more intuitive 
to newcomers:
- Give a warning for all methods with first parameter not named "self" 
in next versions of Python.
- In a future major version of Python, 3 or 4, self becomes a keyword 
and a first parameter named otherwise implies a class method (I 
understand it could mean a lot of changes in code not using self).

Regards,

Nicolas