Python inheritance - how to disable a function

python inheritance interface private
Boris Gorelik picture Boris Gorelik · Oct 24, 2008 · Viewed 20.7k times · Source

In C++ you can disable a function in parent's class by declaring it as private in the child class. How can this be done in Python? I.E. How can I hide parent's function from child's public interface?

Answer

kurosch picture kurosch · Oct 24, 2008

There really aren't any true "private" attributes or methods in Python. One thing you can do is simply override the method you don't want in the subclass, and raise an exception:

>>> class Foo( object ):
...     def foo( self ):
...         print 'FOO!'
...         
>>> class Bar( Foo ):
...     def foo( self ):
...         raise AttributeError( "'Bar' object has no attribute 'foo'" )
...     
>>> b = Bar()
>>> b.foo()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<interactive input>", line 1, in <module>
  File "<interactive input>", line 3, in foo
AttributeError: 'Bar' object has no attribute 'foo'

Related questions

Understanding Python super() with __init__() methods

I'm trying to understand the use of super(). From the looks of it, both child classes can be created, just fine. I'm curious to know about the actual difference between the following 2 child classes. class Base(object): def __init__(self): …

Read More
What are the differences between type() and isinstance()?

What are the differences between these two code fragments? Using type(): import types if type(a) is types.DictType: do_something() if type(b) in types.StringTypes: do_something_else() Using isinstance(): if isinstance(a, dict): do_something() if isinstance(…

Read More
How to call a Parent Class's method from Child Class in Python?

When creating a simple object hierarchy in Python, I'd like to be able to invoke methods of the parent class from a derived class. In Perl and Java, there is a keyword for this (super). In Perl, I might do …

Read More