[Python-Dev] extended print statement, uPre-PEP

[Barry A. Warsaw]

    | def lookup( query )
    |   regex=$"${person.lastname},${person.firstname}: .*${query}=(\w+)"
    |   ....

So let me try to guess what you mean here.  I really have no idea if
I'm right.  $"..." is some new type of syntax that says to do magic
name lookup and interpolation when creating the string.

person.lastname must be an attribute on some object bound to the
variable `person'.  Where does `person' come from?  I guess you'd use
the normal namespace rules, so if I saw this function in your code I'd
have to assume that person appears in the globals (because putting it
in builtins is bad form and I don't see it in the function's locals).

But you really don't need any of that new magic stuff or new syntax
(or is it a new string type?).  The nugget of interesting new
functionality here is that your doing attribute lookup inside a string
interpolation, and /that/ might be a cool thing to have.  E.g.

def lookup(query):
    regex = '%(person.lastname)s,%(person.firstname)s: .*%(query)s=(\w+)' \
        % vars()

seems reasonable to me, and doesn't add nearly as much new or magical
stuff as your example above.

-Barry