Equivalent of NotImplementedError for fields in Python

Question

In Python 2.x when you want to mark a method as abstract, you can define it like so:

class Base:
    def foo(self):
        raise NotImplementedError("Subclasses should implement this!")

Then if you forget to override it, you get a nice reminder exception. Is there an equivalent way to mark a field as abstract? Or is stating it in the class docstring all you can do?

At first I thought I could set the field to NotImplemented, but when I looked up what it's actually for (rich comparisons) it seemed abusive.

Answer 1

Yes, you can. Use the @property decorator. For instance, if you have a field called "example" then can't you do something like this:

class Base(object):

    @property
    def example(self):
        raise NotImplementedError("Subclasses should implement this!")

Running the following produces a NotImplementedError just like you want.

b = Base()
print b.example

Answer 2

def require_abstract_fields(obj, cls):
    abstract_fields = getattr(cls, "abstract_fields", None)
    if abstract_fields is None:
        return

    for field in abstract_fields:
        if not hasattr(obj, field):
            raise RuntimeError, "object %s failed to define %s" % (obj, field)

class a(object):
    abstract_fields = ("x", )
    def __init__(self):
        require_abstract_fields(self, a)

class b(a):
    abstract_fields = ("y", )
    x = 5
    def __init__(self):
        require_abstract_fields(self, b)
        super(b, self).__init__()

b()
a()

Note the passing of the class type into require_abstract_fields, so if multiple inherited classes use this, they don't all validate the most-derived-class's fields. You might be able to automate this with a metaclass, but I didn't dig into that. Defining a field to None is accepted.

Answer 3

Alternate answer:

@property
def NotImplementedField(self):
    raise NotImplementedError

class a(object):
    x = NotImplementedField

class b(a):
    # x = 5
    pass

b().x
a().x

This is like Evan's, but concise and cheap--you'll only get a single instance of NotImplementedField.