A debounce function decorator in Python similar to the one in underscore.js, tested with 2.7

debounce.py

from threading import Timer


def debounce(wait):
    """ Decorator that will postpone a functions
        execution until after wait seconds
        have elapsed since the last time it was invoked. """
    def decorator(fn):
        def debounced(*args, **kwargs):
            def call_it():
                fn(*args, **kwargs)
            try:
                debounced.t.cancel()
            except(AttributeError):
                pass
            debounced.t = Timer(wait, call_it)
            debounced.t.start()
        return debounced
    return decorator

test_debounce.py

import unittest
import time
from debounce import debounce


class TestDebounce(unittest.TestCase):

    @debounce(10)
    def increment(self):
        """ Simple function that
            increments a counter when
            called, used to test the
            debounce function decorator """
        self.count += 1

    def setUp(self):
        self.count = 0

    def test_debounce(self):
        """ Test that the increment
            function is being debounced.
            The counter should only be incremented
            once 10 seconds after the last call
            to the function """
        self.assertTrue(self.count == 0)
        self.increment()
        self.increment()
        time.sleep(9)
        self.assertTrue(self.count == 0)
        self.increment()
        self.increment()
        self.increment()
        self.increment()
        self.assertTrue(self.count == 0)
        time.sleep(10)
        self.assertTrue(self.count == 1)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    unittest.main()

Look at https://github.com/vladignatyev/limiter
It is like debounce but it doesn't use timer and locks current thread.
Your implementation is similar to this one from JS LoDash framework: https://github.com/lodash/lodash/blob/master/dist/lodash.js#L4975
Have a nice day!

Hey @vladignatyev The first link you mentioned all calls sleep() A proper debounce should never call sleep. I just wrote a better one here:
https://gist.github.com/esromneb/8eac6bf5bdfef58304cb

Actually, @esromneb, your implementation behaves as the throttle function of underscore.js. The difference being your implementation triggers on the first call, and blocks any calls made in the specified period afterwards. The debounce function of underscore.js however, waits the specified amount of time after the first call, before actually executing it. If in that waiting period another call is made, the timer is reset. I can't think of an easy way to achieve this without sleep.

Whether this is how a debounce function works in an electrical system I do not know, but which functionality is preferred depends on the use case. In my scenario, I wish to process a file after it has stopped being changed for a while, thus the underscore.js version is prefered.

FWIW, here's a version of the debounce decorator that works in Twisted Python.

from twisted.internet import reactor

def debounce(wait):
    def decorator(fn):
        def debounced(*args, **kw):
            try:
                debounced.delayed_call
            except AttributeError:
                def call_it():
                    del debounced.delayed_call
                    fn(*args, **kw)
                debounced.delayed_call = reactor.callLater(wait, call_it)
            else:
                debounced.delayed_call.reset(wait)
        return debounced
    return decorator

Here's another way. This uses Python 3's nonlocal keyword. The implementation is direct and very easy to understand.

import time


def debounce(s):
    """Decorator ensures function that can only be called once every `s` seconds.
    """
    def decorate(f):
        t = None

        def wrapped(*args, **kwargs):
            nonlocal t
            t_ = time.time()
            if t is None or t_ - t >= s:
                result = f(*args, **kwargs)
                t = time.time()
                return result
        return wrapped
    return decorate

Try it out.

@debounce(3)
def hi(name):
    print('hi {}'.format(name))


hi('dude')
time.sleep(1)
hi('mike')
time.sleep(1)
hi('mary')
time.sleep(1)
hi('jane')

@kylebebak your version is not "bounce" but as your description

ensures function that can only be called once every s seconds.

you version will always invoke the first call, and all the calls afterwards before the "s" seconds will be omitted

def debounce(wait):
    """ Decorator that will postpone a functions
        execution until after wait seconds
        have elapsed since the last time it was invoked. """

    def decorator(fn):
        def debounced(*args, **kwargs):
            def call_it():
                debounced._timer = None
                debounced._last_call = time.time()
                return fn(*args, **kwargs)

            time_since_last_call = time.time() - debounced._last_call
            if time_since_last_call >= wait:
                return call_it()

            if debounced._timer is None:
                debounced._timer = threading.Timer(wait - time_since_last_call, call_it)
                debounced._timer.start()

        debounced._timer = None
        debounced._last_call = 0

        return debounced

    return decorator

This debounce decorator will directly call the function if the last call is more than wait seconds ago. Otherwise it starts a timer to call the function after wait seconds. This means if the decorated function is called once every second, the first call is passed through and the second call (which happens 1s after the first call) is scheduled to be executed after 14s. Calls that happen after a call has been scheduled will be ignored. One could also change the decorator so that always the last given arguments are used for the next scheduled call.

@kylebebak your version is not "bounce" but as your description

ensures function that can only be called once every s seconds.

you version will always invoke the first call, and all the calls afterwards before the "s" seconds will be omitted

@neekey
Thanks for mentioning this, you're totally right! I think what I've written is typically called throttle, but I'm not sure this is the right name either.

@kylebebak here is a great visualization for understanding throttle vs debounce:
http://demo.nimius.net/debounce_throttle/

Didn't know about threading.Timer, I like this solution!

An optimization would be to protect the Timer creation using a threading.Lock. This would prevent problems with debounce being called between Timer's initialization and calling .start().

Another would be to use functools.wraps to preserve docstrings.