Python: Inherit the superclass __init__

Question

I have a base class with a lot of __init__ arguments:

class BaseClass(object):
    def __init__(self, a, b, c, d, e, f, ...):
        self._a=a+         


        

Answer 1

You have to write it explicitly, but on the other hand, if you have lots of args, you should probably use *args for positional args and **kwargs for keyword args.

class SubClass(BaseClass):
    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        super(SubClass, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
        # SubClass initialization code

Another technique you could use is to minimize the code in init and then at the end of init function, call another custom function. Then in the subclass, you just need to override the custom function

class BaseClass(object):
    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        # initialization code
        self._a = kwargs.get('a')
        ...
        # custom code for subclass to override
        self.load()

    def load():
        pass

class SubClass(BaseClass)
    def load():
        # SubClass initialization code
        ...