Prevent creating new attributes outside __init__

Question

I want to be able to create a class (in Python) that once initialized with __init__, does not accept new attributes, but accepts modifications of existing attri

Answer 1

Here is approach i came up with that doesn't need a _frozen attribute or method to freeze() in init.

During init i just add all class attributes to the instance.

I like this because there is no _frozen, freeze(), and _frozen also does not show up in the vars(instance) output.

class MetaModel(type):
    def __setattr__(self, name, value):
        raise AttributeError("Model classes do not accept arbitrary attributes")

class Model(object):
    __metaclass__ = MetaModel

    # init will take all CLASS attributes, and add them as SELF/INSTANCE attributes
    def __init__(self):
        for k, v in self.__class__.__dict__.iteritems():
            if not k.startswith("_"):
                self.__setattr__(k, v)

    # setattr, won't allow any attributes to be set on the SELF/INSTANCE that don't already exist
    def __setattr__(self, name, value):
        if not hasattr(self, name):
            raise AttributeError("Model instances do not accept arbitrary attributes")
        else:
            object.__setattr__(self, name, value)


# Example using            
class Dog(Model):
    name = ''
    kind = 'canine'

d, e = Dog(), Dog()
print vars(d)
print vars(e)
e.junk = 'stuff' # fails