Mastering Python

Decorating classes

Python 2.6 introduced the class decorator syntax. As is the case with the function decorator syntax, this is not really a new technique either. Even without the syntax, a class can be decorated simply by executing DecoratedClass = decorator(RegularClass). After the previous paragraphs, you should be familiar with writing decorators. Class decorators are no different from regular ones, except for the fact that they take a class instead of a function. As is the case with functions, this happens at declaration time and not at instantiating/calling time.

Because there are quite a few alternative ways to modify how classes work, such as standard inheritance, mixins, and metaclasses (more about that in Chapter 8, Metaclasses – Making ...