Rate Limiting Decorator that allows bursts

rateburstlimiter.py

import time


def RateLimited(maxPerSecond, burst=1):
    minInterval = 1.0 / float(maxPerSecond)

    def decorate(func):
        firstBurst = [0.0]
        burstCount = [0]

        def rateLimitedFunction(*args, **kargs):
            if burstCount[0] == 0:
                firstBurst[0] = time.time()
            if burstCount[0] < burst:
                burstCount[0] += 1
                ret = func(*args, **kargs)
            if burstCount[0] == burst:
                burstCount[0] = 0
                elapsed = time.time() - firstBurst[0]
                leftToWait = + burst*minInterval - elapsed
                if leftToWait > 0:
                    time.sleep(leftToWait)
            return ret
        return rateLimitedFunction
    return decorate


@RateLimited(2, 5)
def PrintNumber(num):
    print num


if __name__ == "__main__":
    print "This should print 1,2,3.. at about 2 per second, with bursts of 5"
    for i in range(1, 100):
        PrintNumber(i)