[Python-ideas] Statement local functions and classes (aka PEP 3150 is dead, say 'Hi!' to PEP 403)

[Matt Chaput]

On 12/10/2011 8:22 PM, Nick Coghlan wrote:
> PEP 403 is a far simpler idea, that looks to decorators (and Ruby
> blocks) for inspiration. It's still a far from perfect idea, but it
> has a lot more going for it than PEP 3150 ever did.

-1 for syntactic ridiculousness... I personally find it (whether postdef 
or : or whatever) unreadable and probably unfathomable to beginners 
("So, WHY do I have to give this function a name if it's just going to 
be ignored?" "Because nobody could think of a good syntax.").

IMHO anonymous blocks (Amnesiac blocks? They had a name but they forgot 
it) are not worth complicating the language definition (that is, the 
mental model, not necessarily the implementation) to this degree.

> The new PEP is included below and is also available online:
> http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0403/

The text in your email is different from the text on python.org. In 
particular, the first sentence in the version on python.org is unfinished:

   This PEP proposes the addition of postdef as a new function prefix
   syntax (analogous to decorators) that permits the execution of a
   single simple statement (potentially including substatements
   separated by semi-colons) after

Matt