whatami 1.0.3

Easily provide python objects with self-identification

About

Whatami is an attempt to abstract configurability and experiment identifiability in a convenient way. It does so by leveraging object introspection and defining a simple, flexible and consistent API that python objects can adhere to.

It works this way:

• Objects provide their own ids based on parameters=value dictionaries. They do so by returning an instance of the Configuration class from a method called “what()” (and that’s all).

• Optionally, this package provides a Whatable mixin that can be inherited to provide automatic creation of What objects from the class dictionary (or WhatableD to do so from slots or propertes). All attributes will be considered part of the configuration, except for those whose names start or end by ‘_’.

Example

# Objects of this class provide a configuration (What object)
class DuckedConfigurable(object):
    def __init__(self, quantity, name, company=None, verbose=True):
       self.quantity = quantity
       self.name = name
       self.company = company
       self.verbose = verbose

    def what(self):
        return What('ducked', {'quantity': self.quantity, 'name': self.name, 'company': self.company})

duckedc = DuckedConfigurable(33, 'salty-lollypops', verbose=False)

# The configuration id string sorts by key alphanumeric order, helping id consistency
print duckedc.what().id()
# ducked#company=None#name='salty-lollypops'#quantity=33

# Inheriting from Whatable makes objects gain a what() method;
# in this case, what() is infered automatically
class Company(Whatable):
    def __init__(self, name, city, verbose=True):
        super(Company, self).__init__()
        self.name = name
        self.city = city
        self._verbose = verbose  # not part of config
        self.social_reason_ = '%s S.A., %s' % (name, city)  # not part of config
cc = Company(name='Chupa Chups', city='Barcelona')
print cc.what().id()
# Company#city='Barcelona'#name='Chupa Chups'

# Ultimately, we can nest whatables...
duckedc = DuckedConfigurable(33, 'salty-lollypops', company=cc, verbose=False)
print duckedc.what().id()
# ducked#company="Company#city='Barcelona'#name='Chupa Chups'"#name='salty-lollypops'#quantity=33

# Also a function decorator is provided - use with caution
@whatable
def buy(company, price=2**32, currency='euro'):
    return '%s is now mine for %g %s' % (company.name, price, currency)
print buy.what().id()
# buy#currency='euro'#price=4294967296