Meta classes in Python

Question

What are meta classes and why do we need to use them?

Answer 1

A Metaclass is the class of a class. Like a class defines how an instance of the class behaves, a metaclass defines how a class behaves. A class is an instance of a metaclass.

While in Python you can use arbitrary callables for metaclasses , the more useful approach is actually to make it an actual class itself. type is the usual metaclass in Python. In case you're wondering, yes, type is itself a class, and it is its own type. You won't be able to recreate something like type purely in Python, but Python cheats a little.