[Python-Dev] FW: [Python-checkins] python/nondist/peps pep-0318.txt, 1.25, 1.26

[Phillip J. Eby]

At 06:24 PM 8/24/04 -0400, Raymond Hettinger wrote:
>Like metaclasses, everyone knew they were powerful when they were put
>in, but no one knew how they would be used or whether they were
>necessary.  In fact, two versions later, we still don't know those
>answers.

The people who've been using metaclasses since Python 1.5 (including e.g., 
the Zope developers) would probably disagree.  (Metaclasses got an upgrade 
in capabilities due to type/class unification, plus a more convenient 
syntax in 2.2, but they were around long before that.)

Similarly, there are plenty of "pyoneers" with use cases today for 
decorators, and they know how they're being used today, and that an 
improved syntax is necessary.

I'd point to the fact that there has been *very* little argument among 
decorator proponents regarding the desired semantics, as an indication that 
we *do* know what capabilities are necessary and/or desirable.

(By decorator proponents, I mean people who have developed and use their 
own decorators, who have spoken in favor of having PEP 318 implemented for 
2.4.  That is, people interested enough in the functionality to have used 
the current syntax to get them.)