Inheriting doc strings. What are the options?

[Paul Watson]

If a class is derived, then there should be a reason worth sharing.

"Chad Netzer" <cnetzer at mail.arc.nasa.gov> wrote in message
news:mailman.1051912806.29766.python-list at python.org...
>
> I'd like derived classes to inherit the docstrings of their base
> classes, unless overridden.  Or at least, a simple way to do it
> explicitly (perhaps using metaclasses?)
>
> This seems like the kind of thing that would have been discussed before,
> and I was wondering if anyone could point me to a discussion, or provide
> ideas on why this is or isn't the case in python already.  I'd consider
> implementing a patch if it is deemed a widely useful feature.
>
> It would be useful for me because I like to build Abstract classes that
> define an API, and having the derived (implementation) classes and
> method inherit the doc strings is very natural.  Other class hiearchies
> may benefit less.
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
> class Abstract:
>     """An Abstract class with doc strings."""
>
>     def api_method( self ):
>         """A method that is implemented in subclasses."""
>         raise NotImplementedError
>
> # This class will not inherit the Abstact doc strings
> class Concrete( Abstract ):
>     def api_method( self ):
>         print "api_method of Concrete class called."
>
> # I would like the subclasses and objects constructed from them to
> # inherit the doc strings, unless they are overridden.
> print Concrete.__doc__
> print Concrete.api_method.__doc__
>
> print
>
> c = Concrete()
> print c.__doc__
> print c.api_method.__doc__
>
>
> -- 
>
> Chad Netzer
> (any opinion expressed is my own and not NASA's or my employer's)
>
>