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

[Ben Finney]

Greg Ewing <greg.ewing at canterbury.ac.nz> writes:

> Nick Coghlan wrote:
>
> >     postdef x = weakref.ref(obj, def)
> >     def report_destruction(obj):
> >         print("{} is being destroyed".format(obj))
> >
> >     postdef funcs = [def(i) for i in range(10)]
> >     def make_incrementor(i):
> >         postdef return def
> >         def incrementor(x):
> >             return x + i
> >
> >     postdef sorted_list = sorted(original, key=def)
> >     def normalise(item):
> >         …
> >
> > That actually looks quite readable to me, and is fairly explicit about
> > what it does:
>
> Sorry, but I think it only looks that way to you because you invented
> it. To me, all of these look like two completely separate statements:
> some weird thing starting with "postdef", and then a function
> definition.

I have to agree. The decorator syntax was hotly debated for (in part)
the very same reason: when looking at the definition of a function, a
statement *preceding* the definition is not obviously connected.

-- 
 \       “Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but they are not |
  `\            entitled to their own facts.” —US Senator Pat Moynihan |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney