[Python-checkins] r56647 - peps/trunk/pep-3119.txt

[guido.van.rossum]

Author: guido.van.rossum
Date: Wed Aug  1 19:29:38 2007
New Revision: 56647

Modified:
   peps/trunk/pep-3119.txt
Log:
Add @abstractproperty.  PEP 3141 needs it for .real, .imag.


Modified: peps/trunk/pep-3119.txt
==============================================================================
--- peps/trunk/pep-3119.txt	(original)
+++ peps/trunk/pep-3119.txt	Wed Aug  1 19:29:38 2007
@@ -237,8 +237,8 @@
 
 The new standard library module ``abc``, written in pure Python,
 serves as an ABC support framework.  It defines a metaclass
-``ABCMeta`` and a decorator ``@abstractmethod``.  A sample
-implementation is given by [13]_.
+``ABCMeta`` and decorators ``@abstractmethod`` and
+``@abstractproperty``.  A sample implementation is given by [13]_.
 
 The ``ABCMeta`` class overrides ``__instancecheck__`` and
 ``__subclasscheck__`` and defines a ``register`` method.  The
@@ -340,11 +340,6 @@
 affects subclasses derived using regular inheritance; "virtual
 subclasses" registered with the ``register()`` method are not affected.
 
-It has been suggested that we should also provide a way to define
-abstract data attributes.  As it is easy to add these in a later
-stage, and as the use case is considerably less common (apart from
-pure documentation), we punt on this for now.
-
 **Implementation:** The ``@abstractmethod`` decorator sets the
 function attribute ``__isabstractmethod__`` to the value ``True``.
 The ``ABCMeta.__new__`` method computes the type attribute
@@ -366,6 +361,36 @@
 useful as an end-point for a super-call in framework using a
 cooperative multiple-inheritance [7]_, [8]_.
 
+A second decorator, ``@abstractproperty``, is defined in order to
+define abstract data attributes.  Its implementation is a subclass of
+the built-in ``property`` class that adds an ``__isabstractmethod__``
+attribute::
+
+    class abstractproperty(property):
+        __isabstractmethod__ = True
+
+It can be used in two ways::
+
+    class C(metaclass=ABCMeta):
+
+        # A read-only property:
+
+        @abstractproperty
+        def readonly(self):
+            return self.__x
+
+        # A read-write property (cannot use decorator syntax):
+
+        def getx(self):
+            return self.__x
+        def setx(self, value):
+            self.__x = value
+        x = abstractproperty(getx, setx)
+
+A subclass inheriting an abstract property (declared using either the
+decorator syntax or the longer form) cannot be instantiated unless it
+overrides that abstract property with a concrete property.
+
 
 ABCs for Containers and Iterators
 ---------------------------------