I'm trying to have a default instance of a class. I want to have
class Foo():
def __init__(self):
....
_default = Foo()
#staticmethod
def get_default():
return _default
However _default = Foo() leads to NameError: name 'Foo' is not defined
Foo does not exist until the class definition is finalized. You can easily refer to it after the class definition, though:
class Foo(object):
def __init__(self):
# ....
Foo.default_instance = Foo()
Note also that I have removed the superfluous getter method in favor of a plain old attribute.
You can also solve the problem with a decorator:
def defaultinstance(Class):
Class.default_instance = Class()
return Class
#defaultinstance
class Foo(object):
# ...
Or, gratuitously, with a metaclass:
def defaultmeta(name, bases, attrs):
Class = type(name, bases, attrs)
Class.default_instance = Class()
return Class
# Python 2.x usage
class Foo(object):
__metaclass__ = defaultmeta
# ...
# Python 3.x usage
class Foo(metaclass=defaultmeta):
# ...
When might you might want to use each method?
Use the post-definition class attribute assignment for one-offs
Use the decorator if you want the same behavior in a lot of unrelated classes and to "hide" the implementation of it (it's not really hidden, or even that complicated, here, though)
Use the metaclass if you want the behavior to be inheritable in which case it's not really gratuitous. :-)
You cannot refer to a class that doesn't yet exist. Within the class definition body, the Foo class is not yet created.
Add the attribute after the class has been created:
class Foo():
def __init__(self):
....
#staticmethod
def get_default():
return Foo._default
Foo._default = Foo()
Note that you also need to alter the get_default() static method; the class body doesn't form a scope, so you cannot reach _default as a non-local from get_default().
You are now, however, repeating yourself a lot. Reduce repetition a little by making get_default() a classmethod instead:
class Foo():
def __init__(self):
....
#classmethod
def get_default(cls):
return cls._default
Foo._default = Foo()
or create the default on first call:
class Foo():
def __init__(self):
....
#classmethod
def get_default(cls):
if not hasattr(cls, '_default'):
cls._default = cls()
return cls._default
You may lazily initialize your default instance.
class Foo(object):
_default = None
#staticmethod
def get_default():
if not Foo._default:
Foo._default = Foo()
return Foo._default
Related
class abc():
def xyz(self):
print("Class abc")
class foo(abc):
def xyz(self):
print("class foo")
x = foo()
I want to call xyz() of the parent class, something like;
x.super().xyz()
With single inheritance like this it's easiest in my opinion to call the method through the class, and pass self explicitly:
abc.xyz(x)
Using super to be more generic this would become (though I cannot think of a good use case):
super(type(x), x).xyz()
Which returns a super object that can be thought of as the parent class but with the child as self.
If you want something exactly like your syntax, just provide a super method for your class (your abc class, so everyone inheriting will have it):
def super(self):
return super(type(self), self)
and now x.super().xyz() will work. It will break though if you make a class inheriting from foo, since you will only be able to go one level up (i.e. back to foo).
There is no "through the object" way I know of to access hidden methods.
Just for kicks, here is a more robust version allowing chaining super calls using a dedicated class keeping tracks of super calls:
class Super:
def __init__(self, obj, counter=0):
self.obj = obj
self.counter = counter
def super(self):
return Super(self.obj, self.counter+1)
def __getattr__(self, att):
return getattr(super(type(self.obj).mro()[self.counter], self.obj), att)
class abc():
def xyz(self):
print("Class abc", type(self))
def super(self):
return Super(self)
class foo(abc):
def xyz(self):
print("class foo")
class buzz(foo):
def xyz(self):
print("class buzz")
buzz().super().xyz()
buzz().super().super().xyz()
results in
class foo
Class abc
Let's say I have this class:
class Foo:
#classmethod
def some_decorator(cls, ...):
...
And then I create a subclass which uses the parent class decorator:
class Bar(Foo):
#Foo.some_decorator(...)
def some_function(...)
...
How do I remove the need for Foo. before the decorator name? The below code doesn't work:
class Bar(Foo):
#some_decorator(...)
def some_function(...)
...
I believe this is possible, because the sly library does this.
See their example:
from sly import Lexer, Parser
class CalcLexer(Lexer):
...
#_(r'\d+')
def NUMBER(self, t):
t.value = int(t.value)
return t
...
As you can see, you can type in #_(...) instead of #Lexer._(...).
How do they accomplish this?
This is done with a metaclass that implements a __prepare__ method. Excerpt from the docs:
3.3.3.4. Preparing the class namespace
Once the appropriate metaclass has been identified, then the class
namespace is prepared. If the metaclass has a __prepare__ attribute,
it is called as namespace = metaclass.__prepare__(name, bases, **kwds)
(where the additional keyword arguments, if any, come from the class
definition).
To put it in simple terms: You make your __prepare__ method return a dictionary that contains an entry for the decorator. Proof of concept:
class MyMeta(type):
def __prepare__(name, bases):
return {'x': 'foobar'}
class MyClass(metaclass=MyMeta):
print(x) # output: foobar
I have looked inside the library you are talking about and the Lexer class inherits a metaclass:
class Lexer(metaclass=LexerMeta):
Inside the LexerMeta you can find the following:
#classmethod
def __prepare__(meta, name, bases):
d = LexerMetaDict()
def _(pattern, *extra):
patterns = [pattern, *extra]
def decorate(func):
pattern = '|'.join(f'({pat})' for pat in patterns )
if hasattr(func, 'pattern'):
func.pattern = pattern + '|' + func.pattern
else:
func.pattern = pattern
return func
return decorate
d['_'] = _
d['before'] = _Before
return d
A metaclass is used to create the class object which then is used to instantiate objects. From what i can see in that method is that here d['_'] = _ that metaclass dynamically attaches the _ method to the class you are going to use.
This means that what they are doing is not much different from:
class Bar:
#staticmethod
def some_decorator(f):
...
#some_decorator
def some_function(self):
...
I have the following classes implementing a "Delegation Design Pattern" with an additional DelegatorParent class:
class DelegatorParent():
def __init__(self):
self.a = 'whatever'
class ConcreteDelegatee():
def myMethod(self):
return 'myMethod'
class Delegator(DelegatorParent):
def __init__(self):
self.delegatee = ConcreteDelegatee()
DelegatorParent.__init__(self)
def __getattr__(self, attrname):
return getattr(self.delegatee, attrname)
a = Delegator()
result = a.myMethod()
Everything looks fine.
Now I would like to put an abstract method in DelegatorParent, to ensure that "myMethod" is always defined.
from abc import ABCMeta, abstractmethod
class DelegatorParent():
__metaclass__ = ABCMeta
#abstractmethod
def myMethod(self):
pass
def __init__(self):
self.a = 'whatever'
class ConcreteDelegatee():
def myMethod(self):
return 'myMethod'
class Delegator(DelegatorParent):
def __init__(self):
self.delegatee = ConcreteDelegatee()
DelegatorParent.__init__(self)
def __getattr__(self, attrname):
return getattr(self.delegatee, attrname)
# This method seems unnecessary, but if I erase it an exception is
# raised because the abstract method's restriction is violated
def myMethod(self):
return self.delegatee.myMethod()
a = Delegator()
result = a.myMethod()
Can you help me find an "elegant" way to remove "myMethod" from "Delegator"... Intuition tells me that it is somehow redundant (considering that a custom getattr method is defined).
And more importantly, notice that with this implementation, if I forget to define myMethod in ConcreteDelegatee the program compiles, but it may crash in runtime if I call Delegator.myMethod(), which is exactly what I wanted to avoid by using abstract methods in DelegatorParent.
Obviously a simple solution would be to move #abstractmethod to the Delegator class, but I want to avoid doing that because in my program DelegatorParent is a very important class (and Delegator is just an auxiliary class).
You can decide to automatically implement abstract methods delegared to ConcreteDelegatee.
For each abstract method, check if it's name exist in the ConcreteDelegatee class and implement this method as a delegate to this class method.
from abc import ABCMeta, abstractmethod
class DelegatorParent(object):
__metaclass__ = ABCMeta
def __init__(self):
self.a = 'whatever'
#abstractmethod
def myMethod(self):
pass
class Delegatee(object):
pass
class ConcreteDelegatee(Delegatee):
def myMethod(self):
return 'myMethod'
def myMethod2(self):
return 'myMethod2'
class Delegator(DelegatorParent):
def __new__(cls, *args, **kwargs):
implemented = set()
for name in cls.__abstractmethods__:
if hasattr(ConcreteDelegatee, name):
def delegated(this, *a, **kw):
meth = getattr(this.delegatee, name)
return meth(*a, **kw)
setattr(cls, name, delegated)
implemented.add(name)
cls.__abstractmethods__ = frozenset(cls.__abstractmethods__ - implemented)
obj = super(Delegator, cls).__new__(cls, *args, **kwargs)
obj.delegatee = ConcreteDelegatee()
return obj
def __getattr__(self, attrname):
# Called only for attributes not defined by this class (or its bases).
# Retrieve attribute from current behavior delegate class instance.
return getattr(self.delegatee, attrname)
# All abstract methods are delegared to ConcreteDelegatee
a = Delegator()
print(a.myMethod()) # correctly prints 'myMethod'
print(a.myMethod2()) #correctly prints 'myMethod2'
This solves the main problem (prevent ConcreteDelegatee from forgetting to define myMethod). Other abstract methods are still checked if you forgot to implement them.
The __new__ method is in charge of the delegation, that frees your __init__ to do it.
Since you use ABCMeta, you must defined the abstract methods. One could remove your method from the __abstractmethods__ set, but it is a frozenset. Anyway, it involves listing all abstract methods.
So, instead of playing with __getattr__, you can use a simple descriptor.
For instance:
class Delegated(object):
def __init__(self, attrname=None):
self.attrname = attrname
def __get__(self, instance, owner):
if instance is None:
return self
delegatee = instance.delegatee
return getattr(delegatee, self.attrname)
class Delegator(DelegatorParent):
def __init__(self):
self.delegatee = ConcreteDelegatee()
DelegatorParent.__init__(self)
myMethod = Delegated('myMethod')
An advantage here: the developer has the explicit information that "myMethod" is delegated.
If you try:
a = Delegator()
result = a.myMethod()
It works! But if you forget to implement myMethod in Delegator class, you have the classic error:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "script.py", line 40, in <module>
a = Delegator()
TypeError: Can't instantiate abstract class Delegator with abstract methods myMethod
Edit
This implementation can be generalized as follow:
class DelegatorParent():
__metaclass__ = ABCMeta
#abstractmethod
def myMethod1(self):
pass
#abstractmethod
def myMethod2(self):
pass
def __init__(self):
self.a = 'whatever'
class ConcreteDelegatee1():
def myMethod1(self):
return 'myMethod1'
class ConcreteDelegatee2():
def myMethod2(self):
return 'myMethod2'
class DelegatedTo(object):
def __init__(self, attrname):
self.delegatee_name, self.attrname = attrname.split('.')
def __get__(self, instance, owner):
if instance is None:
return self
delegatee = getattr(instance, self.delegatee_name)
return getattr(delegatee, self.attrname)
class Delegator(DelegatorParent):
def __init__(self):
self.delegatee1 = ConcreteDelegatee1()
self.delegatee2 = ConcreteDelegatee2()
DelegatorParent.__init__(self)
myMethod1 = DelegatedTo('delegatee1.myMethod1')
myMethod2 = DelegatedTo('delegatee2.myMethod2')
a = Delegator()
result = a.myMethod2()
Here, we can specify the delegatee name and delegatee method.
Here is my current solution. It solves the main problem (prevent ConcreteDelegatee from forgetting to define myMethod), but I'm still not convinced because I still need to define myMethod inside Delegator, which seems redundant
from abc import ABCMeta, abstractmethod
class DelegatorParent(object):
__metaclass__ = ABCMeta
def __init__(self):
self.a = 'whatever'
#abstractmethod
def myMethod(self):
pass
class Delegatee(object):
def checkExistence(self, attrname):
if not callable(getattr(self, attrname, None)):
error_msg = "Can't instantiate " + str(self.__class__.__name__) + " without abstract method " + attrname
raise NotImplementedError(error_msg)
class ConcreteDelegatee(Delegatee):
def myMethod(self):
return 'myMethod'
def myMethod2(self):
return 'myMethod2'
class Delegator(DelegatorParent):
def __init__(self):
self.delegatee = ConcreteDelegatee()
DelegatorParent.__init__(self)
for method in DelegatorParent.__abstractmethods__:
self.delegatee.checkExistence(method)
def myMethod(self, *args, **kw):
return self.delegatee.myMethod(*args, **kw)
def __getattr__(self, attrname):
# Called only for attributes not defined by this class (or its bases).
# Retrieve attribute from current behavior delegate class instance.
return getattr(self.delegatee, attrname)
# if I forget to implement myMethod inside ConcreteDelegatee,
# the following line will correctly raise an exception saying
# that 'myMethod' is missing inside 'ConcreteDelegatee'.
a = Delegator()
print a.myMethod() # correctly prints 'myMethod'
print a.myMethod2() #correctly prints 'myMethod2'
This question already has answers here:
Using property() on classmethods
(19 answers)
Closed 3 years ago.
In python I can add a method to a class with the #classmethod decorator. Is there a similar decorator to add a property to a class? I can better show what I'm talking about.
class Example(object):
the_I = 10
def __init__( self ):
self.an_i = 20
#property
def i( self ):
return self.an_i
def inc_i( self ):
self.an_i += 1
# is this even possible?
#classproperty
def I( cls ):
return cls.the_I
#classmethod
def inc_I( cls ):
cls.the_I += 1
e = Example()
assert e.i == 20
e.inc_i()
assert e.i == 21
assert Example.I == 10
Example.inc_I()
assert Example.I == 11
Is the syntax I've used above possible or would it require something more?
The reason I want class properties is so I can lazy load class attributes, which seems reasonable enough.
Here's how I would do this:
class ClassPropertyDescriptor(object):
def __init__(self, fget, fset=None):
self.fget = fget
self.fset = fset
def __get__(self, obj, klass=None):
if klass is None:
klass = type(obj)
return self.fget.__get__(obj, klass)()
def __set__(self, obj, value):
if not self.fset:
raise AttributeError("can't set attribute")
type_ = type(obj)
return self.fset.__get__(obj, type_)(value)
def setter(self, func):
if not isinstance(func, (classmethod, staticmethod)):
func = classmethod(func)
self.fset = func
return self
def classproperty(func):
if not isinstance(func, (classmethod, staticmethod)):
func = classmethod(func)
return ClassPropertyDescriptor(func)
class Bar(object):
_bar = 1
#classproperty
def bar(cls):
return cls._bar
#bar.setter
def bar(cls, value):
cls._bar = value
# test instance instantiation
foo = Bar()
assert foo.bar == 1
baz = Bar()
assert baz.bar == 1
# test static variable
baz.bar = 5
assert foo.bar == 5
# test setting variable on the class
Bar.bar = 50
assert baz.bar == 50
assert foo.bar == 50
The setter didn't work at the time we call Bar.bar, because we are calling
TypeOfBar.bar.__set__, which is not Bar.bar.__set__.
Adding a metaclass definition solves this:
class ClassPropertyMetaClass(type):
def __setattr__(self, key, value):
if key in self.__dict__:
obj = self.__dict__.get(key)
if obj and type(obj) is ClassPropertyDescriptor:
return obj.__set__(self, value)
return super(ClassPropertyMetaClass, self).__setattr__(key, value)
# and update class define:
# class Bar(object):
# __metaclass__ = ClassPropertyMetaClass
# _bar = 1
# and update ClassPropertyDescriptor.__set__
# def __set__(self, obj, value):
# if not self.fset:
# raise AttributeError("can't set attribute")
# if inspect.isclass(obj):
# type_ = obj
# obj = None
# else:
# type_ = type(obj)
# return self.fset.__get__(obj, type_)(value)
Now all will be fine.
If you define classproperty as follows, then your example works exactly as you requested.
class classproperty(object):
def __init__(self, f):
self.f = f
def __get__(self, obj, owner):
return self.f(owner)
The caveat is that you can't use this for writable properties. While e.I = 20 will raise an AttributeError, Example.I = 20 will overwrite the property object itself.
[answer written based on python 3.4; the metaclass syntax differs in 2 but I think the technique will still work]
You can do this with a metaclass...mostly. Dappawit's almost works, but I think it has a flaw:
class MetaFoo(type):
#property
def thingy(cls):
return cls._thingy
class Foo(object, metaclass=MetaFoo):
_thingy = 23
This gets you a classproperty on Foo, but there's a problem...
print("Foo.thingy is {}".format(Foo.thingy))
# Foo.thingy is 23
# Yay, the classmethod-property is working as intended!
foo = Foo()
if hasattr(foo, "thingy"):
print("Foo().thingy is {}".format(foo.thingy))
else:
print("Foo instance has no attribute 'thingy'")
# Foo instance has no attribute 'thingy'
# Wha....?
What the hell is going on here? Why can't I reach the class property from an instance?
I was beating my head on this for quite a while before finding what I believe is the answer. Python #properties are a subset of descriptors, and, from the descriptor documentation (emphasis mine):
The default behavior for attribute access is to get, set, or delete the
attribute from an object’s dictionary. For instance, a.x has a lookup chain
starting with a.__dict__['x'], then type(a).__dict__['x'], and continuing
through the base classes of type(a) excluding metaclasses.
So the method resolution order doesn't include our class properties (or anything else defined in the metaclass). It is possible to make a subclass of the built-in property decorator that behaves differently, but (citation needed) I've gotten the impression googling that the developers had a good reason (which I do not understand) for doing it that way.
That doesn't mean we're out of luck; we can access the properties on the class itself just fine...and we can get the class from type(self) within the instance, which we can use to make #property dispatchers:
class Foo(object, metaclass=MetaFoo):
_thingy = 23
#property
def thingy(self):
return type(self).thingy
Now Foo().thingy works as intended for both the class and the instances! It will also continue to do the right thing if a derived class replaces its underlying _thingy (which is the use case that got me on this hunt originally).
This isn't 100% satisfying to me -- having to do setup in both the metaclass and object class feels like it violates the DRY principle. But the latter is just a one-line dispatcher; I'm mostly okay with it existing, and you could probably compact it down to a lambda or something if you really wanted.
If you use Django, it has a built in #classproperty decorator.
from django.utils.decorators import classproperty
For Django 4, use:
from django.utils.functional import classproperty
I think you may be able to do this with the metaclass. Since the metaclass can be like a class for the class (if that makes sense). I know you can assign a __call__() method to the metaclass to override calling the class, MyClass(). I wonder if using the property decorator on the metaclass operates similarly.
Wow, it works:
class MetaClass(type):
def getfoo(self):
return self._foo
foo = property(getfoo)
#property
def bar(self):
return self._bar
class MyClass(object):
__metaclass__ = MetaClass
_foo = 'abc'
_bar = 'def'
print MyClass.foo
print MyClass.bar
Note: This is in Python 2.7. Python 3+ uses a different technique to declare a metaclass. Use: class MyClass(metaclass=MetaClass):, remove __metaclass__, and the rest is the same.
As far as I can tell, there is no way to write a setter for a class property without creating a new metaclass.
I have found that the following method works. Define a metaclass with all of the class properties and setters you want. IE, I wanted a class with a title property with a setter. Here's what I wrote:
class TitleMeta(type):
#property
def title(self):
return getattr(self, '_title', 'Default Title')
#title.setter
def title(self, title):
self._title = title
# Do whatever else you want when the title is set...
Now make the actual class you want as normal, except have it use the metaclass you created above.
# Python 2 style:
class ClassWithTitle(object):
__metaclass__ = TitleMeta
# The rest of your class definition...
# Python 3 style:
class ClassWithTitle(object, metaclass = TitleMeta):
# Your class definition...
It's a bit weird to define this metaclass as we did above if we'll only ever use it on the single class. In that case, if you're using the Python 2 style, you can actually define the metaclass inside the class body. That way it's not defined in the module scope.
def _create_type(meta, name, attrs):
type_name = f'{name}Type'
type_attrs = {}
for k, v in attrs.items():
if type(v) is _ClassPropertyDescriptor:
type_attrs[k] = v
return type(type_name, (meta,), type_attrs)
class ClassPropertyType(type):
def __new__(meta, name, bases, attrs):
Type = _create_type(meta, name, attrs)
cls = super().__new__(meta, name, bases, attrs)
cls.__class__ = Type
return cls
class _ClassPropertyDescriptor(object):
def __init__(self, fget, fset=None):
self.fget = fget
self.fset = fset
def __get__(self, obj, owner):
if self in obj.__dict__.values():
return self.fget(obj)
return self.fget(owner)
def __set__(self, obj, value):
if not self.fset:
raise AttributeError("can't set attribute")
return self.fset(obj, value)
def setter(self, func):
self.fset = func
return self
def classproperty(func):
return _ClassPropertyDescriptor(func)
class Bar(metaclass=ClassPropertyType):
__bar = 1
#classproperty
def bar(cls):
return cls.__bar
#bar.setter
def bar(cls, value):
cls.__bar = value
bar = Bar()
assert Bar.bar==1
Bar.bar=2
assert bar.bar==2
nbar = Bar()
assert nbar.bar==2
I happened to come up with a solution very similar to #Andrew, only DRY
class MetaFoo(type):
def __new__(mc1, name, bases, nmspc):
nmspc.update({'thingy': MetaFoo.thingy})
return super(MetaFoo, mc1).__new__(mc1, name, bases, nmspc)
#property
def thingy(cls):
if not inspect.isclass(cls):
cls = type(cls)
return cls._thingy
#thingy.setter
def thingy(cls, value):
if not inspect.isclass(cls):
cls = type(cls)
cls._thingy = value
class Foo(metaclass=MetaFoo):
_thingy = 23
class Bar(Foo)
_thingy = 12
This has the best of all answers:
The "metaproperty" is added to the class, so that it will still be a property of the instance
Don't need to redefine thingy in any of the classes
The property works as a "class property" in for both instance and class
You have the flexibility to customize how _thingy is inherited
In my case, I actually customized _thingy to be different for every child, without defining it in each class (and without a default value) by:
def __new__(mc1, name, bases, nmspc):
nmspc.update({'thingy': MetaFoo.services, '_thingy': None})
return super(MetaFoo, mc1).__new__(mc1, name, bases, nmspc)
If you only need lazy loading, then you could just have a class initialisation method.
EXAMPLE_SET = False
class Example(object):
#classmethod
def initclass(cls):
global EXAMPLE_SET
if EXAMPLE_SET: return
cls.the_I = 'ok'
EXAMPLE_SET = True
def __init__( self ):
Example.initclass()
self.an_i = 20
try:
print Example.the_I
except AttributeError:
print 'ok class not "loaded"'
foo = Example()
print foo.the_I
print Example.the_I
But the metaclass approach seems cleaner, and with more predictable behavior.
Perhaps what you're looking for is the Singleton design pattern. There's a nice SO QA about implementing shared state in Python.
I'm working as an application with classes and subclasses. For each class, both super and sub, there is a class variable called label. I would like the label variable for the super class to default to the class name. For example:
class Super():
label = 'Super'
class Sub(Super):
label = 'Sub'
Rather than manually type out the variable for each class, is it possible to derive the variable from the class name in the super class and have it automatically populated for the subclasses?
class Super():
label = # Code to get class name
class Sub(Super)
pass
# When inherited Sub.label == 'Sub'.
The reason for this is that this will be the default behavior. I'm also hoping that if I can get the default behavior, I can override it later by specifying an alternate label.
class SecondSub(Super):
label = 'Pie' # Override the default of SecondSub.label == 'SecondSub'
I've tried using __name__, but that's not working and just gives me '__main__'.
I would like to use the class variable label in #classmethod methods. So I would like to be able to reference the value without having to actually create a Super() or Sub() object, like below:
class Super():
label = # Magic
#classmethod
def do_something_with_label(cls):
print(cls.label)
you can return self.__class__.__name__ in label as a property
class Super:
#property
def label(self):
return self.__class__.__name__
class Sub(Super):
pass
print Sub().label
alternatively you could set it in the __init__ method
def __init__(self):
self.label = self.__class__.__name__
this will obviously only work on instantiated classes
to access the class name inside of a class method you would need to just call __name__ on the cls
class XYZ:
#classmethod
def my_label(cls):
return cls.__name__
print XYZ.my_label()
this solution might work too (snagged from https://stackoverflow.com/a/13624858/541038)
class classproperty(object):
def __init__(self, fget):
self.fget = fget
def __get__(self, owner_self, owner_cls):
return self.fget(owner_cls)
class Super(object):
#classproperty
def label(cls):
return cls.__name__
class Sub(Super):
pass
print Sub.label #works on class
print Sub().label #also works on an instance
class Sub2(Sub):
#classmethod
def some_classmethod(cls):
print cls.label
Sub2.some_classmethod()
You can use a descriptor:
class ClassNameDescriptor(object):
def __get__(self, obj, type_):
return type_.__name__
class Super(object):
label = ClassNameDescriptor()
class Sub(Super):
pass
class SecondSub(Super):
label = 'Foo'
Demo:
>>> Super.label
'Super'
>>> Sub.label
'Sub'
>>> SecondSub.label
'Foo'
>>> Sub().label
'Sub'
>>> SecondSub().label
'Foo'
If class ThirdSub(SecondSub) should have ThirdSub.label == 'ThirdSub' instead of ThirdSub.label == 'Foo', you can do that with a bit more work. Assigning label at the class level will be inherited, unless you use a metaclass (which is a lot more hassle than it's worth for this), but we can have the label descriptor look for a _label attribute instead:
class ClassNameDescriptor(object):
def __get__(self, obj, type_):
try:
return type_.__dict__['_label']
except KeyError:
return type_.__name__
Demo:
>>> class SecondSub(Super):
... _label = 'Foo'
...
>>> class ThirdSub(SecondSub):
... pass
...
>>> SecondSub.label
'Foo'
>>> ThirdSub.label
'ThirdSub'
A metaclass might be useful here.
class Labeller(type):
def __new__(meta, name, bases, dct):
dct.setdefault('label', name)
return super(Labeller, meta).__new__(meta, name, bases, dct)
# Python 2
# class Super(object):
# __metaclass__ = Labeller
class Super(metaclass=Labeller):
pass
class Sub(Super):
pass
class SecondSub(Super):
label = 'Pie'
class ThirdSub(SecondSub):
pass
Disclaimer: when providing a custom metaclass for your class, you need to make sure it is compatible with whatever metaclass(es) are used by any class in its ancestry. Generally, this means making sure your metaclass inherits from all the other metaclasses, but it can be nontrivial to do so. In practice, metaclasses aren't so commonly used, so it's usually just a matter of subclassing type, but it's something to be aware of.
As of Python 3.6, the cleanest way to achieve this is with __init_subclass__ hook introduced in PEP 487. It is much simpler (and easier to manage with respect to inheritance) than using a metaclass.
class Base:
#classmethod
def __init_subclass__(cls, **kwargs):
super().__init_subclass__(**kwargs)
if 'label' not in cls.__dict__: # Check if label has been set in the class itself, i.e. not inherited from any of its superclasses
cls.label = cls.__name__ # If not, default to class's __name__
class Sub1(Base):
pass
class Sub2(Base):
label = 'Custom'
class SubSub(Sub2):
pass
print(Sub1.label) # Sub1
print(Sub2.label) # Custom
print(SubSub.label) # SubSub