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Python has instance methods, class methods (``@classmethod``), and static
methods (``@staticmethod``). But it doesn't have a clear way to invoke a method
on either a class *or* its instances. With ``combomethod``, it does.
::
from combomethod import combomethod
class A(object):
@combomethod
def either(receiver, x, y):
return x + y
a = A()
assert a.either(1, 3) == 4
assert A.either(1, 3) == 4
*Voila!* You method now takes either the class or the instance--whichever
one you want to call it with.
Discussion
==========
In some cases, you can fake ``@combomethod`` with ``@classmethod``. In
the code above, for example, there is no real reference to the class
or instance, and ``either`` could have been designated a ``@classmethod``,
since they can be called with either classes or instances. But, there's a
problem: Class methods *always* pass the class to the method, even if they're
called with an instance. With this approach, you can never access the
instance variables. Ouch!
Alternatively, ``either`` could have been designated a ``@staticmethod``,
had its ``receiver`` parameter been removed. But while it would then be
callable from either an instance or a class, in neither case would it pass
the object the method was called from. There'd never be a way to access
either the class or instance variables. Ouch again!
As useful as ``@classmethod`` and ``@staticmethod`` are, they don't handle the
(occasionally important) corner case where you need to call with either the
class or an instance *and* you need genuine access to the object doing the
call. Here's an example that needs this::
class Above(object):
base = 10
def __init__(self, base=100):
self.base = base
@combomethod
def above_base(receiver, x):
return receiver.base + x
a = Above()
assert a.above_base(5) == 105
assert Above.above_base(5) == 15
aa = Above(12)
assert aa.above_base(5) == 17
assert Above.above_base(5) == 15
When you need to call with either an instance or a class, and you also care
about the object doing the calling, ``@combomethod`` rocks and rolls.
Notes
=====
* This module is primarily a convenient packaging, testing,
and documentation of insights and code from Mike Axiak's
`Stack Overflow post <http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2589690/creating-a-method-that-is-simultaneously-an-instance-and-class-method>`_.
Thank you, Mike!
* Automated multi-version testing managed with
`pytest <https://pypi.org/project/pytest>`_,
`pytest-cov <https://pypi.org/project/pytest-cov>`_,
`coverage <https://pypi.org/project/coverage>`_, and
`tox <https://pypi.org/project/tox>`_.
Continuous integration testing
with `Travis-CI <https://travis-ci.org/jonathaneunice/combomethod>`_.
Packaging linting with `pyroma <https://pypi.org/project/pyroma>`_.
* Successfully packaged for, and tested against, all late-model versions of
Python: 2.6, 2.7, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, and 3.7 pre-release as well as the latest
PyPy and PyPy3 builds.
* See ``CHANGES.yml`` for the complete Change Log.
* The author, `Jonathan Eunice <mailto:jonathan.eunice@gmail.com>`_ or
`@jeunice on Twitter <http://twitter.com/jeunice>`_
welcomes your comments and suggestions.
Installation
============
To install or upgrade to the latest version::
pip install -U combomethod
You may need to prefix these with ``sudo`` to authorize installation. In
environments without super-user privileges, you may want to use ``pip``'s
``--user`` option, to install only for a single user, rather than system-wide.
You may also need Python-version-sepecific ``pip2`` or ``pip3`` installers,
depending on your system configuration. In cases where ``pip`` isn't
well-configured for a specific Python instance you need, a useful fallback::
python3.6 -m pip install -U combomethod