Decorator for aliasing class methods.

alias_deco.py

def aliased(klass):
    '''
    Decorator to be used in combination with `@alias` decorator.

    Classes decorated with @aliased will have their aliased methods
    (via @alias) actually aliased.

    '''
    methods = klass.__dict__.copy()
    for name, method in methods.iteritems():
        if hasattr(method, '_aliases'):
            # add aliases but don't override attributes of 'klass'
            try:
                for alias in method._aliases - set(methods):
                    setattr(klass, alias, method)
            except TypeError: pass
    return klass


class alias(object):
    '''
    Decorator for aliasing method names.

    Only works within classes decorated with '@aliased'

    ''' 
    def __init__(self, *aliases):
        self.aliases = set(aliases)
    
    def __call__(self, f):
        f._aliases = self.aliases
        return f

alias_demo.py

    @aliased
    class Foo:
        @alias('a', 'b')
        def hi(self): return 'Hello world!'
            
    f = Foo()
    assert f.hi() == f.a() == f.b()

        
    @aliased
    class Vehicle(object):
    
        def __init__(self, brand, model, color):
            self.brand = brand
            self.model = model
            self.color = color
            
        @alias('manufacturer', 'maker')
        def brand(self):
            return self.brand
            
        @alias('describe', 'description', 'get_description')
        def desc(self):
            return '{0} {1} {2}'.format(self.color, self.brand, self.model)
            
    car = Vehicle('Ford', 'Focus', 'black')
    assert car.brand == car.maker() == car.manufacturer()
    assert car.desc() == car.describe() == car.get_description()