Setting a get/set property in a python memoization decorator class

Question

I have created a decorator memoization class that I am actively using for cache my calls. There are already many excellent suggestions on how to implement python memoization.

The class that I have created currently uses get and set method calls to set the cacheTimeOut. They are called getCacheTimeOut() and setCacheTimeOut() . While this is an adequate solution. I was hoping to use the @property and @cacheTimeOut.setter decorators to enable the functions to be called directly as for example cacheTimeOut=120

The problem is in the details. I do not know how to make these properties accessible in the __get__ method. The __get__ method assigns the different function calls defined within the class to functions.partial.

Here is my script example designed for Python 2.7

import time
from functools import partial
import cPickle

class memoize(object):
    def __init__(self, func):
        self.func = func
        self._cache = {}
        self._timestamps = {}
        self._cacheTimeOut = 120
        self.objtype = None

    def __new__(cls, *args, **kwargs):
        return object.__new__(cls,*args, **kwargs)

    def __get__(self, obj, objtype=None):
    """Used for object methods where decorator has been placed before methods."""
        self.objtype = objtype
        fn = partial(self, obj)
        fn.resetCache = self.resetCache
        fn.getTimeStamps = self.getTimeStamps
        fn.getCache = self.getCache
        fn._timestamps = self._timestamps
        fn.setCacheTimeOut = self.setCacheTimeOut
        fn.getCacheTimeOut = self.getCacheTimeOut
        return fn

    def __argsToKey(self, *args, **kwargs):
        args = list(args)

        for x, arg in enumerate(args):    # remove instance from
            if self.objtype:
                 if isinstance(arg, self.objtype):
                     args.remove(arg)

        str = cPickle.dumps(args, 1)+cPickle.dumps(kwargs, 1)

        return str

    def __call__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        """Main calling function of decorator."""
         key = self.__argsToKey(*args, **kwargs)    
         now = time.time()    # get current time to query for key
         if self._timestamps.get(key, now) > now:    
             return self._cache[key]
         else:
             value = self.func(*args, **kwargs)
             self._cache[key] = value
             self._timestamps[key] = now + self._cacheTimeOut
         return value

    def __repr__(self):
        '''Return the function's docstring.'''
        return self.func.__doc__

    def resetCache(self):
        """Resets the cache.  Currently called manually upon request."""
        self._cache = {}
        self._timestamps = {}

    def getCacheTimeOut(self):
    """Get the cache time out used to track stale data."""
        return self._cacheTimeOut

    def setCacheTimeOut(self, timeOut):
    """Set the cache timeout to some other value besides 120.  Requires an integer     value.  If you set timeOut to zero you are ignoring the cache"""
        self._cacheTimeOut = timeOut

    def getCache(self):
    """Returns the cache dictionary."""
        return self._cache

    def getTimeStamps(self):
    """Returns the encapsulated timestamp dictionary."""
        return self._timestamps

    @property
    def cacheTimeOut(self):
    """Get cacheTimeOut."""
        return self._cacheTimeOut

    @cacheTimeOut.setter
    def cacheTimeOut(self, timeOut):
    """Set cacheTimeOut."""
        self._cacheTimeOut = timeOut

memoize
def increment(x):
    increment.count+=1
    print("increment.count:%d, x:%d"%(increment.count, x))
    x+=1
    return x


increment.count = 0   # Define the count to track whether calls to increment vs cache


class basic(object):
    def __init__(self):
        self.count = 0

    @memoize
    def increment(self, x):
        self.count+=1
        print("increment.count:%d, x:%d"%(increment.count, x))
        x+=1
        return x


def main():
    print increment(3)
    print increment(3)

    # What I am actually doing
    print increment.getCacheTimeOut()  # print out default of 120
    increment.setCacheTimeOut(20)      # set to 20
    print increment.getCacheTimeOut()  # verify that is has been set to 120

    # What I would like to do and currently does not work
    print increment.cacheTimeOut
    # Assign to property
    increment.cacheTimeOut = 20


    myObject = basic()
    print myObject.increment(3)
    print myObject.count
    print myObject.increment(3)
    print myObject.count
    print myObject.increment(4)
    print myObject.count



####### Unittest code. 
import sys
import time
import unittest
from memoize import memoize

class testSampleUsages(unittest.TestCase):
# """This series of unit tests is to show the user how to apply memoize calls."""
    def testSimpleUsageMemoize(self):
        @memoize
        def increment(var=0):
            var += 1
            return var

        increment(3)
        increment(3)

    def testMethodBasedUsage(self):
        """Add the @memoize before method call."""
        class myClass(object):
            @memoize
            def increment(self,var=0):
                var += 1
                return var

            @memoize
            def decrement(self, var=0):
                var -=1
                return var

        myObj = myClass()
        myObj.increment(3)
        myObj.increment(3)
        myObj.decrement(6)
        myObj.decrement(6)

    def testMultipleInstances(self):
        @memoize
        class myClass(object):
            def __init__(self):
               self.incrementCountCalls = 0
               self.decrementCountCalls = 0
               self.powCountCall = 0

            # @memoize
            def increment(self,var=0):
                var += 1
                self.incrementCountCalls+=1
                return var

            # @memoize
            def decrement(self, var=0):
                self.decrementCountCalls+=1
                var -=1
                return var

            def pow(self, var=0):
                self.powCountCall+=1
                return var*var


        obj1 = myClass()   # Memoizing class above does not seem to work.  
        obj2 = myClass()
        obj3 = myClass()

        obj1.increment(3)
        obj1.increment(3)
        #obj2.increment(3)
        #obj2.increment(3)
        #obj3.increment(3)
        #obj3.increment(3)

        obj1.pow(4)
        obj2.pow(4)
        obj3.pow(4)

Answer 1

There's no way to attach a property to a single instance. Being descriptors, property s must be part of a class definition in order to function. That means you can't easily add them to the partial object you create in __get__ .

Now, you could create a class of your own to reimplement the behavior of partial with your added property. However, I suspect the limitation is actually to your benefit. If memo is applied to a method, its state is shared by all instances of the class (and perhaps even instances of subclasses). If you allow the caching details to be adjusted through instances, you might confuse users with cases like:

obj1 = basic()
print obj1.increment.getCacheTimeout() # prints the initial value, e.g. 120

obj2 = basic()
obj2.increment.setCacheTimeOut(20)     # change the timeout value via another instance

print obj1.increment.getCacheTimeout() # the value via the first instance now prints 20

I suggest that you make the memoization-related interfaces of decorated methods accessible only through the class, not through instances. To make that work, you need to update your __get__ method to work if obj is None . It can simply return self :

def __get__(self, obj, objtype=None):
    if obj is None:
        return self

    self.objtype = objtype
    return partial(self, obj) # no need to attach our methods to the partial anymore

With this change, using a property on the memo via the class works:

basic.increment.cacheTimeOut = 20  # set property of the "unbound" method basic.increment

Answer 2

There is actually a way to accomplish this - by rebinding the decorator as instance-object with a call -method

class Helper(object):

    def __init__(self, d, obj):
        self.d = d
        self.obj = obj
        self.timeout = 0

    def __call__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        print self, self.timeout
        return self.d.func(self.obj, *args, **kwargs)


class decorator(object):

    def __init__(self, func):
        self.func = func
        self.name = func.__name__



    def __get__(self, obj, clazz):
        if object is not None:
            obj.__dict__[self.name] = Helper(self, obj)
        return obj.__dict__[self.name]


class Foo(object):

    @decorator
    def bar(self, args):
        return args * 2



f = Foo()
g = Foo()

f.bar.timeout = 10
g.bar.timeout = 20

print f.bar(10)
print g.bar(20)

HTH