What are Python Decorators?

This is different from my usual blogs. It's just a short and simple introduction to decorators in Python:

Decorators in Python are just like they sound. We take a function, pass it to a decorator, and it adds something, like a feature or extra functionality, as needed. For example:

# A simple decorator function
def sprinkle_decorator(func):

    def wrapper():
        print("Sprinkles have been added")
        func()
    return wrapper

# Applying the decorator to a function
@sprinkle_decorator
def icecream():
    print("here is your icecream")

icecream()

As you can see here, we have a function called icecream, and we want to decorate it with sprinkles. So, we use a decorator, sprinkle_decorator, which contains a wrapper function. The way a wrapper function works is that the main decorator has a return <wrapper_function> statement. This essentially calls the wrapper, which then runs the function we need, in this case, icecream().

Now, if I want to pass parameters to the function, we use *args and **kwargs. The * in args allows us to pass any number of parameters as tuples, and the ** in kwargs allows us to pass them as a dictionary. For example:

def demo(*numbers, **info):
    print(numbers)
    print(info)

demo(1, 2, 3, name="Sidh", mood="curious")

gives o/p as:

(1, 2, 3)
{'name': 'Sidh', 'mood': 'curious'}

so with our decorator, we can use it as:

# A simple decorator function
def sprinkle_decorator(func):

    def wrapper(*args,**kwargs):
        print("Sprinkles have been added")
        func(*args,**kwargs)
    return wrapper

# Applying the decorator to a function
@sprinkle_decorator
def greet(flavour):
    print(f"Hers is your {flavour} icecream")

greet("chocolate")

I hope you all enjoyed and understood decorators in this example. I'll see you in the next one!