Skip to content

Module Glossary

Page Maps

graph LR
  family["Python Programming"]
  program["Python Meta-Programming"]
  section["Function Wrappers Transparent Decorators"]
  page["Module Glossary"]
  capstone["Capstone evidence"]

  family --> program --> section --> page
  page -.applies in.-> capstone
flowchart LR
  orient["Orient on the page map"] --> read["Read the main claim and examples"]
  read --> inspect["Inspect the related code, proof, or capstone surface"]
  inspect --> verify["Run or review the verification path"]
  verify --> apply["Apply the idea back to the module and capstone"]

This glossary belongs to Module 04: Function Wrappers and Transparent Decorators in Python Metaprogramming. It keeps the language of this directory stable so the same ideas keep the same names across lessons, practice, and capstone discussion.

How to use this glossary

Use the glossary when a wrapper discussion starts to blur together thin transformation, stateful policy, definition-time rebinding, and call-time behavior. Module 04 is meant to keep those boundaries explicit.

Terms in this directory

Term Meaning in this directory
Call-time behavior Logic that runs on every invocation of the wrapped callable.
Closure-held state State captured by a wrapper from an outer scope, often mutated with nonlocal.
Decoratee The original function being wrapped by a decorator.
Decoration time The one-time moment when the decorator expression is applied and the function name is rebound.
Decorator A callable that takes a function and returns another callable.
Decorator factory A callable that returns a decorator, usually used as @factory(config).
Definition-time rebinding The fact that @decorator syntax rewrites a function name to the wrapper returned by the decorator.
Semantic drift The point where a decorator stops being a thin transformation and starts changing semantics across calls through state or policy.
Stateful wrapper A wrapper that owns cross-call state such as counters, cached results, or retry policy.
Thin wrapper A wrapper that adds one narrow concern while preserving the original callable's result and error behavior as much as possible.
Transparency The property of keeping wrapped callables inspectable and reviewable after transformation.
Wrapper skeleton The basic nested-function pattern that takes a function and returns a delegating wrapper.
__wrapped__ The attribute that points from a wrapper back to the original callable for unwrapping and inspection.
functools.wraps The standard helper for preserving callable metadata and __wrapped__ on a wrapper.
nonlocal The keyword used to mutate a captured outer-scope variable from inside a wrapper.

Keep the module connected