A Heartbeater offspring that reports periodically.

Reporter.py

class Reporter(Heartbeater):
    """
    Behaves like a Heartbeater but specifically designed to print statements periodically.
    """

    def __init__(self, report_string, period=1, reporting_function=None):
        """
        Every 'period' seconds 'report_string' will be passed to 'reporting_function.'

        If 'reporting_function' is None it will print 'report_string' instead.

        :param report_string: The string to report.
        :param period: The number of seconds to wait between reports.
        :param reporting_function: The reporting function to use instead of 'print.'
            This could be a logging function like 'logging.debug' for instance.
            This must be capable of taking no more than one string argument.
        """

        Heartbeater.__init__(self, work=self.report, period=period)

        self.report_string = report_string
        self.period = period
        self.reporting_function = reporting_function

    def report(self):
        """
        The function that is called to "report."

        :return: None
        """

        if self.reporting_function is None:
            print self.report_string
        else:
            self.reporting_function(self.report_string)
            
    def __call__(self, function_):
        self.function = function_
        
        def _call_it(*args, **kwargs):
            with Reporter(report_string=self.report_string, period=self.period, reporting_function=self.reporting_function):
                self.function(*args, **kwargs)
        
        return _call_it