The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20211027044145/https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2002-February/020017.html
Guido van Rossum guido@python.org> MH> class C(object): > MH> def static(arg) [staticmethod]: > MH> return 1 + arg > > BAW> Why the square brackets though? > > I believe Guido addressed this in his DevDay presentation. The list > construct is to allow future extensions without requiring parser changes. It was only one of the many grammar options I proposed, semi-jokingly. --Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)