Given a function with a parameter a and two other parameters (pickle_from, pickle_to), I'd like to: Load and return the pickled object located at pickle_from, if pickle_from is not None. If it is None, compute some function of a and return it. Dump the result of the above to pickle_to if pickle_to is not None. With a single function this is straightforward. If pickle_from isn't null, the function just loads the pickled result and returns it. Otherwise, it performs some time-intensive calculation with a, dumps that to pickle_to, and returns the calculation result. try: import cPickle as pickle except: import pickle def somefunc(a, pickle_from=None, pickle_to=None): if pickle_from: with open(pickle_from + '.pickle', 'rb') as f res = pickle.load(f) else: # Re-calcualte some time-intensive func call res = a ** 2 if pickle_to: # Update pickled data with newly calculated `res` with open(pickle_to + '.pickle', 'wb') as f: pickle.dump(res, f) return res My question is regarding how to build a decorator so that this process can form a shell around multiple functions similar to somefunc, cutting down on source code in the process. I'd like to be able to write something like: @pickle_option def somefunc(a, pickle_from=None, pickle_to=None) # or do params need to be in the decorator call? # remember, "the files are in the computer" res = a ** 2 return res Is this possible? Something about decorators makes my head explode, so I will politely decline to post here "what I have tried." Continue reading...
