[Python-ideas] Assignment decorators (Re: The Descriptor Protocol...)

[Terry Reedy]

On 3/8/2011 6:38 PM, Greg Ewing wrote:
> Steven D'Aprano wrote:
>> The feature we're discussing is not an enhanced form of decoration, it
>> is an enhanced form of *assignment*. I think Raymond has got it right,
>> the only appropriate syntax is a variation of the assignment syntax.
>
> I don't entirely agree with that. There are currently two
> existing constructs in Python for creating objects that know
> their own name, 'def' and 'class'. They don't look like forms
> of assignment -- rather, they follow the pattern
>
> <keyword> <name> <some other stuff>
>
> This leads me to think that any further such constructs should
> follow a similar pattern.

There is a third such construct and it follows the same pattern in its 
basic form
  import name

All are syntactic sugar for

name = makeob('name', *arg, **kwds)

For classes and modules there are visibly such alternatives:

cls = type('cls',bases, classdict)
mod = __import__('mod', ...)

There is also a function in inspect that makes functions.

So your point is correct:

name = makeob('name', ...) # becomes

keywd name ....

but we do not really want a new keyword for every new type of object 
with a definition name. Can we do with just one?

-- 
Terry Jan Reedy