On Wed, Dec 1, 2021 at 10:12 AM Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> wrote:
On Thu, Dec 2, 2021 at 12:42 AM David Mertz, Ph.D.
<david.mertz@gmail.com> wrote:
>> 4) If "no" to question 1, is there some other spelling or other small
>> change that WOULD mean you would use it? (Some examples in the PEP.)
>
> Yes, the delay/later/defer keyword approach is not confusing, and does not preempt a later feature that would actually be worth having.

Do you mean changing the spelling of the existing proposal, or a
completely different proposal for deferred objects that are actually
objects? Because that is NOT what I mean by a "small change". :)

The spelling of the existing proposal.  I.e. if the proposal were:

def fun(things: list[int] = defer []) -> int:
    # ... some implementation

I'd be -0 on the idea rather than -100.

Yes, my change in attitude is largely because I want *some future PEP* to address the more general situation like:

result = defer really_expensive_calculation()
if predicate:
    doubled = result * 2

But I do not think your PEP does (nor even should) include that potential future behavior/syntax.  Such a hypothetical future PEP would have a continuity with the syntax of your feature, albeit DEFINITELY need to address many independent concerns/issues that yours does not create.

However, even if I assume the mythical future PEP never happens, in terms of readability, a WORD is vastly less confusing than a combination of punctuation that has no obvious or natural interpretation like '=>'.  Or rather, I think that spelling is kinda-sorta obvious for the lambda meaning, and the use you want is kinda-sorta similar to a lambda.  So I *do* understand how you get there... but it still seems like much too much line noise for a very minimal need.

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