[New-bugs-announce] [issue40571] Make lru_cache(maxsize=None) more discoverable

[Raymond Hettinger]

New submission from Raymond Hettinger <raymond.hettinger at gmail.com>:

The recent discussions on python-ideas showed that people have a hard time finding the infinity-cache option for lru_cache().  Also, in the context of straight caching without limits, the name *lru_cache()* makes the tool seem complex and heavy when in fact, it is simple, lightweight, and fast (doing no more than a simple dictionary lookup).

We could easily solve both problems with a helper function:

    def cache(func):
        'Simple unbounded cache.  Sometimes called "memoize".'
        return lru_cache(maxsize=None, typed=False)

It would be used like this:

     @cache
     def configure_server():
         ...
         return server_instance

There was some discussion about a completely new decorator with different semantics (holding a lock across a call to an arbitrary user function and being limited to zero argument functions).  It all the examples that were presented, this @cache decorator would suffice.  None of examples presented actually locking behavior.

----------
components: Library (Lib)
messages: 368469
nosy: rhettinger
priority: normal
severity: normal
status: open
title: Make lru_cache(maxsize=None) more discoverable
type: enhancement
versions: Python 3.9

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Python tracker <report at bugs.python.org>
<https://bugs.python.org/issue40571>
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