Daniel Arbuckle's Mastering Python

Metaclasses

In this section, we'll look at metaclasses, which affect the creation of class objects right from the beginning.

Like class decorators, metaclasses are a tool we can use to adjust the basic meaning of a class. In concept though, they're very different. A class decorator takes an already created class and transforms it in some way. A metaclass, on the other hand, can affect how a class is created, how it behaves, and even how classes that inherit from the modified class are created and behave.

To understand metaclasses, first we have to grasp the idea that classes are objects, and more than that, they are instances of another class called type. Whenever we create a new class, we create an instance of type, unless the class has ...