Abstract Class

Abstract Class is a class that can't have instances but can have subclasses.

To create the abstract class, you need to import the ABC (Abstract Base Class) from the abc built-in library:


python

Also, you need to inherit from class ABC:


python

Now, we have the abstract class SomeClass, but we can create instances:


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from abc import ABC

class SomeClass(ABC):
    pass

instance = SomeClass()
instance.something = "Something"
print(instance.something)

In the example above, we created an instance of SomeClass because SomeClass does not have any abstract methods.

To create an abstract class, it should follow the following structure:

The abstract class should inherit from the ABC class.
The abstract class should define one or more abstract methods.

Note

A class is not considered abstract unless it has at least one abstract method and inherits from the ABC (Abstract Base Class) class.

We will describe abstract methods in the next chapter.

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Section 4. Chapter 5

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Course Content

In-Depth Python OOP