[Python-ideas] setting function properties with a decorator syntax

[Scott Dial]

On 3/19/2010 4:25 AM, Arnaud Delobelle wrote:
> On 19 Mar 2010, at 03:43, Scott Dial <scott+python-ideas at scottdial.com>
> wrote:
>> Which is to say, I would be more amenable to adding such a feature if it
>> was building closure. And in that usage, it would seem to be more
>> generally useful and well-behaved.. outsiders don't normally modify
>> closures (if you want this sort of interface, you probably should define
>> a class).. it allows you to avoid naming the function in the function..
>> and it is a much closer substitute for the default arguments kludge that
>> is so commonly abused.
>>
> 
> Why not just use default arguments?
> 

My problem with this particular kludge is that rarely are these
arguments meaningful as *arguments*. They become a part of the function
definition that shows up in documentation. Worse to me is that the
keyword names block those names from appearing in **kwds, which is
problematic for creating a transparent function (e.g., when writing a
decorator that takes an unknown set of keyword arguments) and evokes
dynamic-scoping madness. Additionally, they are a source of subtle
errors when extra arguments are passed to functions (although this is
mitigated mostly by Py3's keyword-only arguments syntax).

All of those problems go away with a magical @closure() decorator, but I
realize that creating such a decorator would be quite a kludge
in-and-of-itself. Perhaps it's a bit too clever.

-- 
Scott Dial
scott at scottdial.com
scodial at cs.indiana.edu