12. Glossary

Dataclass

Classes that are suited for storing data. In our context these should be very simple classes, that have auto-generated initializer methods, and don’t dynamically add new fields.

Field

A class attribute with type annotation.

Mapping

A description of how an object of one class can be transformed into another. It describes for each field, how it is filled during the mapping operation. E.g. if a field Foo.x is mapped to a field Bar.y, it describes that the field Bar.y will be filled with the value of Foo.x when creating the Bar object.

Introspection

The ability to observe types and properties of objects at runtime.

Reflection

Ability to manipulate types, properties, and functions at runtime.