Python inheritance - how to disable a function

Question

In C++ you can disable a function in parent's class by declaring it as private in the child class. How can this be done in Python? I.E. How can I hide parent's function from child's public interface?

Answer 1

There really aren't any true "private" attributes or methods in Python. One thing you can do is simply override the method you don't want in the subclass, and raise an exception:

>>> class Foo( object ):
...     def foo( self ):
...         print 'FOO!'
...         
>>> class Bar( Foo ):
...     def foo( self ):
...         raise AttributeError( "'Bar' object has no attribute 'foo'" )
...     
>>> b = Bar()
>>> b.foo()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<interactive input>", line 1, in <module>
  File "<interactive input>", line 3, in foo
AttributeError: 'Bar' object has no attribute 'foo'