[Python-ideas] Super, Hooks, and Aspect Oriented Programming

[Guido van Rossum]

I think no exploration of super() can be complete without considering
the difference between overriding a constructor (__init__ or __new__)
and overriding a regular method. Another thing to include is the use
of keyword arguments.

Also, have you looked at how other languages do this yet?

--Guido

On Wed, Feb 25, 2009 at 5:55 AM, Calvin Spealman <ironfroggy at gmail.com> wrote:
> I've been giving some thought to super-calls, and I'm looking to
> consolidate the common patterns of its use. I think if we can do that,
> we can find a more concise expression of the different uses. So far
> I've come up with every use being one or more of the following:
>
> - Do something before the super method is called, optionally changing
> the parameters
> - Do something after the super method is called, optionally changing
> the return value
> - Do something with an exception the function raises
> - Consume new parameters, used by one or more other hooks in place
> - Do something instead of calling the super method, if some condition
> is true (such as a particular parameter being present of a specific
> type)
>
> Can anyone add to this? Are there any restrictions to the combination
> of usage patterns? Obviously, this doesn't capture them all, but can
> we capture most of them? If we could, could we wrap them up in some
> hook library (3rd party or otherwise)
>
> @before and @after are common enough ideas for decorators already
> @catching could be used to catch exceptions raised by the super (or
> another) method
>
> How could these patterns consume extra parameters to hand over to one
> or more hooks?
> How do we do this in a way that we the MRO doesn't mess up what
> parameters we consume at what point? I feel the common patterns we see
> now are error prone, and finding this concise solution might give us
> better control.
>
> I'd love to see something like this included with a future release,
> but right now I'm trying to get ideas for what it would look like, so
> I can build a library and use it, and others can use it, and it can be
> seen if its even useful in real world practice.
>
> --
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> http://techblog.ironfroggy.com/
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-- 
--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)