Python Decorators, Methods, and Functions

After Python 2.2, methods that received the class itself as an argument were classified as class methods. They were then definable with the classmethod() method.

class Class:
     def method(cls)
         ...
     method = classmethod(method)

Once again, this is for illustration only. After a spirited discussion on the Python language discussion group, a formal syntax has been incorporated for these two methods, and it is called a decorator.

[Note: This code is for illustration only. As we are about to see, this syntax has now changed. Of course, Python offers backward compatability for a few versions, but you should use the new syntax, not this.]

• Python's Function Decorators: An Introduction
• Python Decorator Precursors: A History of Python's staticmethod()
• Python Decorator Precursors: A History of Python's classmethod()
• Redirecting Python Calls to Functions and Methods
• Defining the Decoration
• Decorating Functions in Python
• Output of the Decorated Functions