Adding a Method to an Existing Object Instance

Question

I\'ve read that it is possible to add a method to an existing object (i.e., not in the class definition) in Python.

I understand that it\'s not always good to do so

Answer 1

This question was opened years ago, but hey, there's an easy way to simulate the binding of a function to a class instance using decorators:

def binder (function, instance):
  copy_of_function = type (function) (function.func_code, {})
  copy_of_function.__bind_to__ = instance
  def bound_function (*args, **kwargs):
    return copy_of_function (copy_of_function.__bind_to__, *args, **kwargs)
  return bound_function


class SupaClass (object):
  def __init__ (self):
    self.supaAttribute = 42


def new_method (self):
  print self.supaAttribute


supaInstance = SupaClass ()
supaInstance.supMethod = binder (new_method, supaInstance)

otherInstance = SupaClass ()
otherInstance.supaAttribute = 72
otherInstance.supMethod = binder (new_method, otherInstance)

otherInstance.supMethod ()
supaInstance.supMethod ()

There, when you pass the function and the instance to the binder decorator, it will create a new function, with the same code object as the first one. Then, the given instance of the class is stored in an attribute of the newly created function. The decorator return a (third) function calling automatically the copied function, giving the instance as the first parameter.

In conclusion you get a function simulating it's binding to the class instance. Letting the original function unchanged.