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Diffstat (limited to 'Doc/reference/datamodel.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | Doc/reference/datamodel.rst | 136 |
1 files changed, 99 insertions, 37 deletions
diff --git a/Doc/reference/datamodel.rst b/Doc/reference/datamodel.rst index 1f1a660..0fd5e74 100644 --- a/Doc/reference/datamodel.rst +++ b/Doc/reference/datamodel.rst @@ -1550,53 +1550,115 @@ Notes on using *__slots__* Customizing class creation -------------------------- -By default, classes are constructed using :func:`type`. A class definition is -read into a separate namespace and the value of class name is bound to the -result of ``type(name, bases, dict)``. +By default, classes are constructed using :func:`type`. The class body is +executed in a new namespace and the class name is bound locally to the +result of ``type(name, bases, namespace)``. -When the class definition is read, if a callable ``metaclass`` keyword argument -is passed after the bases in the class definition, the callable given will be -called instead of :func:`type`. If other keyword arguments are passed, they -will also be passed to the metaclass. This allows classes or functions to be -written which monitor or alter the class creation process: +The class creation process can be customised by passing the ``metaclass`` +keyword argument in the class definition line, or by inheriting from an +existing class that included such an argument. In the following example, +both ``MyClass`` and ``MySubclass`` are instances of ``Meta``:: -* Modifying the class dictionary prior to the class being created. + class Meta(type): + pass -* Returning an instance of another class -- essentially performing the role of a - factory function. + class MyClass(metaclass=Meta): + pass -These steps will have to be performed in the metaclass's :meth:`__new__` method --- :meth:`type.__new__` can then be called from this method to create a class -with different properties. This example adds a new element to the class -dictionary before creating the class:: + class MySubclass(MyClass): + pass - class metacls(type): - def __new__(mcs, name, bases, dict): - dict['foo'] = 'metacls was here' - return type.__new__(mcs, name, bases, dict) +Any other keyword arguments that are specified in the class definition are +passed through to all metaclass operations described below. -You can of course also override other class methods (or add new methods); for -example defining a custom :meth:`__call__` method in the metaclass allows custom -behavior when the class is called, e.g. not always creating a new instance. +When a class definition is executed, the following steps occur: -If the metaclass has a :meth:`__prepare__` attribute (usually implemented as a -class or static method), it is called before the class body is evaluated with -the name of the class and a tuple of its bases for arguments. It should return -an object that supports the mapping interface that will be used to store the -namespace of the class. The default is a plain dictionary. This could be used, -for example, to keep track of the order that class attributes are declared in by -returning an ordered dictionary. +* the appropriate metaclass is determined +* the class namespace is prepared +* the class body is executed +* the class object is created -The appropriate metaclass is determined by the following precedence rules: +Determining the appropriate metaclass +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ -* If the ``metaclass`` keyword argument is passed with the bases, it is used. +The appropriate metaclass for a class definition is determined as follows: -* Otherwise, if there is at least one base class, its metaclass is used. +* if no bases and no explicit metaclass are given, then :func:`type` is used +* if an explicit metaclass is given and it is *not* an instance of + :func:`type`, then it is used directly as the metaclass +* if an instance of :func:`type` is given as the explicit metaclass, or + bases are defined, then the most derived metaclass is used -* Otherwise, the default metaclass (:class:`type`) is used. +The most derived metaclass is selected from the explicitly specified +metaclass (if any) and the metaclasses (i.e. ``type(cls)``) of all specified +base classes. The most derived metaclass is one which is a subtype of *all* +of these candidate metaclasses. If none of the candidate metaclasses meets +that criterion, then the class definition will fail with ``TypeError``. + + +Preparing the class namespace +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Once the appropriate metaclass has been identified, then the class namespace +is prepared. If the metaclass has a ``__prepare__`` attribute, it is called +as ``namespace = metaclass.__prepare__(name, bases, **kwds)`` (where the +additional keyword arguments, if any, come from the class definition). + +If the metaclass has no ``__prepare__`` attribute, then the class namespace +is initialised as an empty :func:`dict` instance. + +.. seealso:: + + :pep:`3115` - Metaclasses in Python 3000 + Introduced the ``__prepare__`` namespace hook + + +Executing the class body +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +The class body is executed (approximately) as +``exec(body, globals(), namespace)``. The key difference from a normal +call to :func:`exec` is that lexical scoping allows the class body (including +any methods) to reference names from the current and outer scopes when the +class definition occurs inside a function. + +However, even when the class definition occurs inside the function, methods +defined inside the class still cannot see names defined at the class scope. +Class variables must be accessed through the first parameter of instance or +class methods, and cannot be accessed at all from static methods. + + +Creating the class object +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Once the class namespace has been populated by executing the class body, +the class object is created by calling +``metaclass(name, bases, namespace, **kwds)`` (the additional keywords +passed here are the same as those passed to ``__prepate__``). + +This class object is the one that will be referenced by the zero-argument +form of :func:`super`. ``__class__`` is an implicit closure reference +created by the compiler if any methods in a class body refer to either +``__class__`` or ``super``. This allows the zero argument form of +:func:`super` to correctly identify the class being defined based on +lexical scoping, while the class or instance that was used to make the +current call is identified based on the first argument passed to the method. + +After the class object is created, any class decorators included in the +function definition are invoked and the resulting object is bound in the +local namespace to the name of the class. + +.. seealso:: + + :pep:`3135` - New super + Describes the implicit ``__class__`` closure reference + + +Metaclass example +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The potential uses for metaclasses are boundless. Some ideas that have been -explored including logging, interface checking, automatic delegation, automatic +explored include logging, interface checking, automatic delegation, automatic property creation, proxies, frameworks, and automatic resource locking/synchronization. @@ -1609,9 +1671,9 @@ to remember the order that class members were defined:: def __prepare__(metacls, name, bases, **kwds): return collections.OrderedDict() - def __new__(cls, name, bases, classdict): - result = type.__new__(cls, name, bases, dict(classdict)) - result.members = tuple(classdict) + def __new__(cls, name, bases, namespace, **kwds): + result = type.__new__(cls, name, bases, dict(namespace)) + result.members = tuple(namespace) return result class A(metaclass=OrderedClass): |