pre-PEP: Suite-Based Keywords

[Steven Bethard]

Shane Hathaway wrote:
> I like this PEP a lot, but your concern is valid.  Maybe Brian could
> modify the PEP slightly to disambiguate.  How about using an ellipsis in
> the argument list to signify suite-based keywords?  Examples:
> 
> f(...):
>     x = 1
> 
> class C(object):
>    x = property(...):
>       doc = "I'm the 'x' property."
>       def fget(self):
>          return self.__x
>       def fset(self, value):
>          self.__x = value
>       def fdel(self):
>          del self.__x
> 
> d = dict(...):
>     a = 1
>     b = 2

I also like the ellipsis idea much better than the original proposal. 
While I figured out what the original syntax meant after half a minute 
of staring at it (unlike the thunk proposal which I still can't decode), 
I couldn't help but feel that I'd like a visual cue that arguments had 
been omitted.  Seeing
     f():
gives me only ':' as a tiny clue that arguments have been omitted.  And 
':' is used in all Python suites, so it doesn't have a good intuition 
associated with it.  Using ellipsis or something similar to indicate 
that keyword arguments have been omitted would make this much easier for 
me to read.

STeVe