class LazyProperty(object): """ Decorator for easier creation of ``property`` from potentially expensive to calculate attribute of the class. Usage:: class Foo(object): @LazyProperty def bar(self): print 'Calculating self._bar' return 42 Taken from http://blog.pythonisito.com/2008/08/lazy-descriptors.html and used widely. """ def __init__(self, func): self._func = func self.__name__ = func.__name__ self.__doc__ = func.__doc__ def __get__(self, obj, klass=None): if obj is None: return None result = obj.__dict__[self.__name__] = self._func(obj) return result