Expert Python Programming - Third Edition

What is metaprogramming?

Maybe there is a good academic definition of metaprogramming that we can cite here, but this is a book that is more about good software craftsmanship than about computer science theory. This is why we will use the following simple definition:

"Metaprogramming is a technique of writing computer programs that can treat themselves as data, so they can introspect, generate, and/or modify itself while running."

Using this definition, we can distinguish between two major approaches to metaprogramming in Python.

The first approach concentrates on the language's ability to introspect its basic elements, such as functions, classes, or types, and to create or modify them on the fly. Python really provides a lot of tools in ...