Advanced Python for Salesforce Engineers

A comprehensive 3-day course focusing on advanced Object-Oriented Programming concepts in Python.

Course Overview

This course is designed for experienced Python developers who want to deepen their understanding of Python's Object-Oriented Programming capabilities. The focus is on advanced topics including metaclasses, descriptors, and decorators, with practical applications for building better software and frameworks.

Prerequisites

• Solid experience with Python programming
• Understanding of basic OOP concepts (classes, inheritance, polymorphism)
• Familiarity with Python's special methods (__init__, __str__, etc.)
• Experience with exception handling and context managers

Course Structure

Day 1: Understanding Python's Object Model

1. Python's Object Model Fundamentals

   • Deep dive into Python's object model
   • Understanding classes and instances
   • Object initialization and lifecycle
   • Attribute lookup and the descriptor protocol
   • The importance of the type class

2. Introduction to Metaclasses

   • What are metaclasses and why do they exist?
   • The type metaclass
   • Understanding class creation
   • Customizing class creation with metaclasses
   • Examples of metaclass usage

3. Practical Applications of Metaclasses

   • Class registration patterns
   • Enforcing class invariants
   • Attribute validation at class definition time
   • Extending classes declaratively
   • Real-world use cases in frameworks

Day 2: Descriptors and Properties

4. Advanced Method Decorators

   • Review of basic decorators
   • Function vs. class decorators
   • Decorators with parameters
   • Useful built-in decorators (@classmethod, @staticmethod, @property)
   • Creating robust reusable decorators

5. Method Resolution and Multiple Inheritance

   • Python's Method Resolution Order (MRO)
   • The C3 linearization algorithm
   • Multiple inheritance patterns
   • Mixins and composition
   • Understanding super() in depth

6. Property Descriptors

   • Introduction to the descriptor protocol
   • How properties work as descriptors
   • Building custom property-like descriptors
   • Advanced property patterns
   • Inspecting property objects

7. Custom Descriptors

   • When to create custom descriptors
   • Descriptor state storage patterns
   • Validation descriptors
   • Lazy evaluation descriptors
   • Real-world examples from frameworks

Day 3: Building Frameworks and Practical Applications

8. Combining Metaclasses, Decorators, and Descriptors

   • Design patterns leveraging multiple techniques
   • Understanding execution order
   • Building declarative APIs
   • Practical examples of combined techniques
   • Performance and design considerations

9. Practical Real-world Examples

   • Django-inspired models system
   • SQLAlchemy-inspired declarative system
   • Flask-inspired routing
   • Attrs-inspired class generation
   • Entity-component systems for games
   • Pydantic-inspired data validation