How do I avoid the "self.x = x; self.y = y; self.z = z" pattern in __init__?

Question

I see patterns like

def __init__(self, x, y, z):
    ...
    self.x = x
    self.y = y
    self.z = z
    ...

quite frequently, often with a lot more parameters. Is there a good way to avoid this type of tedious repetitiveness? Should the class inherit from namedtuple instead?

Answer 1

Edit: If you have python 3.7+ just use dataclasses

A decorator solution that keeps the signature:

import decorator
import inspect
import sys


@decorator.decorator
def simple_init(func, self, *args, **kws):
    """
    @simple_init
    def __init__(self,a,b,...,z)
        dosomething()

    behaves like

    def __init__(self,a,b,...,z)
        self.a = a
        self.b = b
        ...
        self.z = z
        dosomething()
    """

    #init_argumentnames_without_self = ['a','b',...,'z']
    if sys.version_info.major == 2:
        init_argumentnames_without_self = inspect.getargspec(func).args[1:]
    else:
        init_argumentnames_without_self = tuple(inspect.signature(func).parameters.keys())[1:]

    positional_values = args
    keyword_values_in_correct_order = tuple(kws[key] for key in init_argumentnames_without_self if key in kws)
    attribute_values = positional_values + keyword_values_in_correct_order

    for attribute_name,attribute_value in zip(init_argumentnames_without_self,attribute_values):
        setattr(self,attribute_name,attribute_value)

    # call the original __init__
    func(self, *args, **kws)


class Test():
    @simple_init
    def __init__(self,a,b,c,d=4):
        print(self.a,self.b,self.c,self.d)

#prints 1 3 2 4
t = Test(1,c=2,b=3)
#keeps signature
#prints ['self', 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
if sys.version_info.major == 2:
    print(inspect.getargspec(Test.__init__).args)
else:
    print(inspect.signature(Test.__init__))