[Python-3000] symbols?

[Jim Jewett]

On 4/18/06, Guido van Rossum <guido at python.org> wrote:
> On 4/18/06, Jim Jewett <jimjjewett at gmail.com> wrote:
> Do you realize that you are
> describing that the expression

>     .foo

> is syntactic sugar for
>
>     lambda self: self._foo()

Somehow I had it in my head that I needed to also call that lambda,
though I can't see why now.

> That's not what I would call a "symbol type" by any stretch of the
> imagination.

Roughly, it would do the same as your property-with-strings
enhancement, except that .foo would make it obvious that foo was a
name (found on .), rather than an arbitrary string.

I do see that as symbol-like, because it is a cross between a string
(the method isn't resolved immediately) and a name (unquoted, limited
to values that are valid for a name).

-jJ