Toy pub/sub implementation in python

event.py

from functools import partial
from fnmatch import fnmatchcase
from collections import defaultdict

class Event(dict):
    handlers = defaultdict(list)

    @classmethod
    def subscribe(cls, *args):
        if not callable(args[-1]):
            return partial(cls.subscribe, *args)
        for pattern in args[:-1]:
            cls.handlers[pattern].append(args[-1])
        return args[-1]

    def __init__(self, event_type, *args, **kwargs):
        self.type = event_type
        self._published = False
        super(Event, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)

    def publish(self, repeat=False):
        if repeat or not self._published:
            self._published = True
            matches = filter(partial(fnmatchcase, self.type), self.handlers.keys())
            callbacks = [i for s in [self.handlers[m] for m in matches] for i in s]
            return {c.__name__: c(self) for c in set(callbacks)}