Python inheritance - how to disable a function

Question

In C++ you can disable a function in parent\'s class by declaring it as private in the child class. How can this be done in Python? I.E. How can I hide parent\'s function fr

Answer 1

Another approach is define an descriptor that errors on access.

    class NotHereDescriptor:
        def __get__(self, obj, type=None):
            raise AttributeError
    
    class Bar:
        foo = NotHereDescriptor()

This is similar in nature to the property approach a few people have used above. However it has the advantage that hasattr(Bar, 'foo') will return False as one would expect if the function really didn't exist. Which further reduces the chance of weird bugs. Although it does still show up in dir(Bar).

If you are interested in what this is doing and why it works check out the descriptor section of the data model page https://docs.python.org/3/reference/datamodel.html#descriptors and the descriptor how to https://docs.python.org/3/howto/descriptor.html