Thread by @driscollis

#Python comes with lots of modules. Let's get started by looking at the `abc` module.

The `abc` module isn't for learning the alphabet! It's for creating Abstract Base Classes 🤯!

Let's learn more about those now 🧵👇

#PythonStdLib 🐍🔥

Abstract base classes (ABCs) are defined in PEP 1139.

You can read all about them here:

python.org/dev/peps/pep-3…

Abstract Base Classes in #Python provide the following:

🐍 A way to overload isinstance() and issubclass().
🐍 A new module abc which serves as an “ABC support framework”.
🐍 Specific ABCs for containers and iterators, to be added to the collections module.

You can create a virtual class with `abc.ABCMeta` if you use it as the metaclass of a custom class.

Here is an interesting example:

The Python Module of the Week website has lots of interesting examples for Abstract Base Classes:

pymotw.com/3/abc/

A common use case for Abstract Base Classes to make a base class as a common interface.

This base class cannot be instantiated itself, but it can be sub-classed

If you forget to implement a method in your subclass, the subclass will raise an error.

Here are a couple examples:

You can read more on this topic in this excellent article by @dbader_org

dbader.org/blog/abstract-…

@dbader_org Don't forget to read the official #Python documentation to learn more about the `abc` module:

docs.python.org/3/library/abc.…

@dbader_org Thanks for checking out my article on #Python Abstract Base Modules. 🐍🔥

Follow me to learn more about the amazing Python programming language or check out my articles at @mousevspython