Using “Base” in a Class Name

Question

Is it acceptable to use the word \'Base\' in a class name which is a the bottom of the inheritance tree?

I have always found this a bit of a cop-out, just wondering

Answer 1

It seems like any principled answer will end up being no... However, comma, when I'm looking at code I'm not particularly familiar with, which happens a lot in python (where the source code is sometimes the only dependable documentation), I find it really helpful when a class has Base in it. Python is different from other OO languages where the class is defined with an "abstract" or "interface" specifier though. For naming, I like to ask myself "if I have never seen this code before, which way would make it easier for me to understand this code?" (Then, depending on how lazy I'm feeling, I name it accordingly).