--- title: The Price is Right • From Properties to Descriptors description: A deep dive into Python descriptors, starting from properties as a stepping stone. Uses a Product class with price validation as a running example to show why... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/the-price-is-right-from-properties-to-descriptors-1u5msdnum twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: The Price is Right • From Properties to Descriptors | daily.dev og:description: A deep dive into Python descriptors, starting from properties as a stepping stone. Uses a Product class with price validation as a running example to show why... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/the-price-is-right-from-properties-to-descriptors-1u5msdnum og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/1u5msdNUM.png og:image:alt: The Price is Right • From Properties to Descriptors og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # The Price is Right • From Properties to Descriptors **[Planet Python](https://daily.dev/sources/planetpython)** · 33 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A deep dive into Python descriptors, starting from properties as a stepping stone. Uses a Product class with price validation as a running example to show why properties become repetitive, then introduces the descriptor protocol (__get__, __set__, __set_name__) to solve the problem generically. Explains how descriptors hijack attribute access via the dot notation, how __getattribute__ prioritizes data descriptors over instance __dict__, and reveals that properties, functions, classmethods, and staticmethods all use the descriptor protocol internally. Includes full working code with Decimal-based price validation. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Python Descriptors: An Introduction Quiz – Real Python](https://daily.dev/posts/python-descriptors-an-introduction-quiz-real-python-fzjunazq5) · Real Python · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Python Descriptors – Real Python](https://daily.dev/posts/python-descriptors-real-python-qarb951sb) · Real Python · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Do You Get It Now?](https://daily.dev/posts/do-you-get-it-now--assveafdh) · Planet Python · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#general-programming](https://daily.dev/tags/general-programming), [#python](https://daily.dev/tags/python) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/the-price-is-right-from-properties-to-descriptors-1u5msdnum) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"The Price is Right • From Properties to Descriptors","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-price-is-right-from-properties-to-descriptors-1u5msdnum","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-price-is-right-from-properties-to-descriptors-1u5msdnum"},"datePublished":"2026-03-15T21:44:34.906Z","dateModified":"2026-03-15T21:45:01.588Z","description":"A deep dive into Python descriptors, starting from properties as a stepping stone. 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