Learning Python Decorators

A good boilerplate template for building more complex decorators

import functools

def decorator(func):
    @functools.wraps(func)
    def wrapper_decorator(*args, **kwargs):
        # Do something before
        value = func(*args, **kwargs)
        # Do something after
        return value
    return wrapper_decorator

Example of a decorator as a Class

import functools

class CountCalls:
    def __init__(self, func):
        functools.update_wrapper(self, func)
        self.func = func
        self.num_calls = 0

    def __call__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        self.num_calls += 1
        print(f"Call {self.num_calls} of {self.func.__name__!r}")
        return self.func(*args, **kwargs)

@CountCalls
def say_whee():
    print("Whee!")

Example: timing functions

import functools
import time

def timer(func):
    """Print the runtime of the decorated function"""
    @functools.wraps(func)
    def wrapper_timer(*args, **kwargs):
        start_time = time.perf_counter()    # 1
        value = func(*args, **kwargs)
        end_time = time.perf_counter()      # 2
        run_time = end_time - start_time    # 3
        print(f"Finished {func.__name__!r} in {run_time:.4f} secs")
        return value
    return wrapper_timer

@timer
def waste_some_time(num_times):
    for _ in range(num_times):
        sum([i**2 for i in range(10000)])

Creating Singletons

import functools

def singleton(cls):
    """Make a class a Singleton class (only one instance)"""
    @functools.wraps(cls)
    def wrapper_singleton(*args, **kwargs):
        if not wrapper_singleton.instance:
            wrapper_singleton.instance = cls(*args, **kwargs)
        return wrapper_singleton.instance
    wrapper_singleton.instance = None
    return wrapper_singleton

@singleton
class TheOne:
    pass

>>> first_one = TheOne()
>>> another_one = TheOne()

>>> id(first_one)
140094218762280

>>> id(another_one)
140094218762280

>>> first_one is another_one
True

Credits

• RealPython | Primer on Python Decorators