[Python-Dev] Re: PEP 318: Decorators last before colon

[David Abrahams]

Greg Ewing <greg at cosc.canterbury.ac.nz> writes:

>> There are different kinds of aesthetics.  Guido's proposal has grown on me 
>> from a *visual* aesthetics point of view.  After I worked with it a little 
>> bit, I realized it really is much prettier than decorators-before-colon.
>
> Your tastes must be different from mine, then, because
> it doesn't strike me as any prettier visually, either.
>
> I don't think I can fully separate these different kinds of
> aesthetics in my mind, anyway. To me, a piece of syntax
> isn't just something to look at -- it has a grammar, and
> it has a meaning, and if the grammar and the meaning and
> the way it looks on the page don't all agree with each
> other, it strikes a discordant note.
>
> When I read the syntax
>
>   def foo(args) [classmethod]:
>     ...
>
> it says to me "Define a function foo, with these args, and
> which happens to be a classmethod. Here's the body..."
>
> On the other hand, when I see
>
>   [classmethod]
>   def foo(args):
>     ...
>
> the little voice in my head doesn't really say anything
> coherent at all.

Lest we get the idea that there's any absolute measure of aesthetics:

  +1

restoring-nature's-equilibrium-ly,
Dave

-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
www.boost-consulting.com