class SingletonMeta(type): """ The Singleton class can be implemented in different ways in Python. Some possible methods include: base class, decorator, metaclass. We will use the metaclass because it is best suited for this purpose. """ _instances = {} def __call__(cls, *args, **kwargs): """ Possible changes to the value of the `__init__` argument do not affect the returned instance. """ if cls not in cls._instances: instance = super().__call__(*args, **kwargs) cls._instances[cls] = instance return cls._instances[cls]