What are some examples of abstract base classes in Python?

What are some examples of abstract base classes in Python?

Abstract Base Classes (ABCs) in Python are used to define common interfaces for a group of related classes. For example, the collections.abc module provides several ABCs like Iterable, Iterator, and Sized. Would you like to see a specific example?

Yes, can you show me an example of an abstract base class?

Sure! Here's a simple example:

from abc import ABC, abstractmethod

class Animal(ABC):
    @abstractmethod
    def sound(self):
        pass

class Dog(Animal):
    def sound(self):
        return 'Woof!'

class Cat(Animal):
    def sound(self):
        return 'Meow!'

In this example, Animal is an abstract base class with an abstract method sound. The Dog and Cat classes implement this method.

That's great! How do I use these classes?

You can create instances of the Dog and Cat classes and call their sound methods like this:

dog = Dog()
cat = Cat()
print(dog.sound())  # Output: Woof!
print(cat.sound())  # Output: Meow!

Thanks! Can you explain the benefits of using abstract base classes?

Absolutely! Abstract Base Classes help enforce a contract for subclasses, ensuring they implement specific methods. This promotes code consistency and reusability, making your codebase easier to maintain.