- Functions are First-Class Objects: This is the bedrock upon which decorators are built.
- Decorators Modify Behavior: They are functions that take another function as input and return a modified (decorated) function.
- Clean Code: They provide a neat way to add functionality (like logging, timing, access control) without cluttering the core logic of your functions.
- Python’s
@symbol is syntactic sugar that makes decorators easy to apply. - functools.wraps: Essential for preserving the metadata of the original function.
- Order Matters: When stacking decorators, the order of application is important.
Decorators are a versatile tool in Python. Once you understand how they work, you’ll find many opportunities to use them to write more elegant and maintainable code.