[Python-ideas] Short form for keyword arguments and dicts

[Andrew McNabb]

On Mon, Jun 24, 2013 at 11:34:49AM +1200, Greg Ewing wrote:
> Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> >The special case "parameter name matches exactly argument
> >expression" is far too special, and the benefit far too minor, to
> >deserve special syntax.
> 
> It occurs more often than you might think, because taking
> parameters that you've been passed and passing them on to
> another function is a common pattern.

Another use case where this would come in handy is with string
formatting:

>>> print('{spam} and {eggs}'.format(spam=spam, eggs=eggs))

I've seen people use an awful workaround for this:

>>> print('{spam} and {eggs}'.format(locals()))

While it looks a little magical, the proposed syntax would be an
improvement (especially when there are many arguments):

>>> print('{spam} and {eggs}'.format(=spam, =eggs))

I'm not sure if the proposed solution is necessarily the best, but it's
not as contrived as some commenters have made it out to be.

--
Andrew McNabb
http://www.mcnabbs.org/andrew/
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