Python decorators example

Much of the discussion on comp.lang.python and the python-dev mailing list focuses on the use of decorators as a cleaner way to use the staticmethod() and classmethod() builtins. This capability is much more powerful than that. This section presents some examples of use.

1. Define a function to be executed at exit. Note that the function isn't actually "wrapped" in the usual sense.

   def onexit(f):
       import atexit
       atexit.register(f)
       return f
   
   @onexit
   def func():
       ...
   

   Note that this example is probably not suitable for real usage, but is for example purposes only.

2. Define a class with a singleton instance. Note that once the class disappears enterprising programmers would have to be more creative to create more instances. (From Shane Hathaway on python-dev .)

   def singleton(cls):
       instances = {}
       def getinstance():
           if cls not in instances:
               instances[cls] = cls()
           return instances[cls]
       return getinstance
   
   @singleton
   class MyClass:
       ...
   

3. Add attributes to a function. (Based on an example posted by Anders Munch on python-dev .)

   def attrs(**kwds):
       def decorate(f):
           for k in kwds:
               setattr(f, k, kwds[k])
           return f
       return decorate
   
   @attrs(versionadded="2.2",
          author="Guido van Rossum")
   def mymethod(f):
       ...
   

4. Enforce function argument and return types. Note that this copies the func_name attribute from the old to the new function. func_name was made writable in Python 2.4a3:

   def accepts(*types):
       def check_accepts(f):
           assert len(types) == f.func_code.co_argcount
           def new_f(*args, **kwds):
               for (a, t) in zip(args, types):
                   assert isinstance(a, t), \
                          "arg %r does not match %s" % (a,t)
               return f(*args, **kwds)
           new_f.func_name = f.func_name
           return new_f
       return check_accepts
   
   def returns(rtype):
       def check_returns(f):
           def new_f(*args, **kwds):
               result = f(*args, **kwds)
               assert isinstance(result, rtype), \
                      "return value %r does not match %s" % (result,rtype)
               return result
           new_f.func_name = f.func_name
           return new_f
       return check_returns
   
   @accepts(int, (int,float))
   @returns((int,float))
   def func(arg1, arg2):
       return arg1 * arg2
   

5. Declare that a class implements a particular (set of) interface(s). This is from a posting by Bob Ippolito on python-dev based on experience with PyProtocols [27] .

   def provides(*interfaces):
        """
        An actual, working, implementation of provides for
        the current implementation of PyProtocols.  Not
        particularly important for the PEP text.
        """
        def provides(typ):
            declareImplementation(typ, instancesProvide=interfaces)
            return typ
        return provides
   
   class IBar(Interface):
        """Declare something about IBar here"""
   
   @provides(IBar)
   class Foo(object):
           """Implement something here..."""
   

Of course, all these examples are possible today, though without syntactic support.