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Python Essentials

You're reading from   Python Essentials Modernize existing Python code and plan code migrations to Python using this definitive guide

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Product type Paperback
Published in Jun 2015
Publisher Packt
ISBN-13 9781784390341
Length 298 pages
Edition 1st Edition
Languages
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Author (1):
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Steven F. Lott Steven F. Lott
Author Profile Icon Steven F. Lott
Steven F. Lott
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Table of Contents (17) Chapters Close

Preface 1. Getting Started FREE CHAPTER 2. Simple Data Types 3. Expressions and Output 4. Variables, Assignment and Scoping Rules 5. Logic, Comparisons, and Conditions 6. More Complex Data Types 7. Basic Function Definitions 8. More Advanced Functions 9. Exceptions 10. Files, Databases, Networks, and Contexts 11. Class Definitions 12. Scripts, Modules, Packages, Libraries, and Applications 13. Metaprogramming and Decorators 14. Fit and Finish – Unit Testing, Packaging, and Documentation 15. Next Steps Index

More complex metaprogramming with metaclasses

In some cases, the default features built into a class aren't appropriate for our particular application. We can see a few common situations where we might want to extend the default behavior of object construction.

  • We can use a metaclass to preserve some of the original source code that defined a class. By default, each class object uses dict to store the various methods and class-level attributes. We might want to use an ordered dictionary to retain the original source code ordering for class-level attributes. An example of this is shown in the Python Standard Library, section 3.3.3.5.
  • The abstract base classes (ABC) rely on a metaclass __new__() method to confirm that the concrete subclass is complete when we attempt to create an instance of the class. If we fail to provide all of the required methods in a subclass of an ABC, we can't create an instance of that subclass.
  • Metaclasses can be used to simplify object serialization. A metaclass...
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