What are abstract classes in Python and how do they relate to inheritance?

What are abstract classes in Python and how do they relate to inheritance?

Abstract classes in Python are classes that cannot be instantiated and are meant to be subclassed. They can define abstract methods that must be implemented by subclasses.

Can you give me an example of an abstract 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 'Bark'

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

How do I use this abstract class in my code?

You can create instances of the subclasses (like Dog or Cat) and call their sound method:

dog = Dog()
print(dog.sound())  # Output: Bark

cat = Cat()
print(cat.sound())  # Output: Meow

What happens if I try to instantiate the abstract class directly?

If you try to instantiate the abstract class Animal directly, you'll get a TypeError because it contains abstract methods that need to be implemented.