Although I have never needed this, it just struck me that making an immutable object in Python could be slightly tricky. You can’t just override __setattr__, because then you can’t even set attributes in the __init__. Subclassing a tuple is a trick that works:

class Immutable(tuple):

    def __new__(cls, a, b):
        return tuple.__new__(cls, (a, b))

    @property
    def a(self):
        return self[0]

    @property
    def b(self):
        return self[1]

    def __str__(self):
        return "<Immutable {0}, {1}>".format(self.a, self.b)

    def __setattr__(self, *ignored):
        raise NotImplementedError

    def __delattr__(self, *ignored):
        raise NotImplementedError

But then you have access to the a and b variables through self[0] and self[1], which is annoying.

Is this possible in Pure Python? If not, how would I do it with a C extension?

(Answers that work only in Python 3 are acceptable).

Update:

So subclassing tuple is the way to do it in Pure Python, which works well except for the additional possibility of accessing the data by [0], [1] etc. So, to complete this question all that is missing is howto do it “properly” in C, which I suspect would be quite simple, by just not implementing any geititem or setattribute, etc. But instead of doing it myself, I offer a bounty for that, because I’m lazy. :)

Yet another solution I just thought of: The simplest way to get the same behaviour as your original code is

Immutable = collections.namedtuple("Immutable", ["a", "b"])

It does not solve the problem that attributes can be accessed via [0] etc., but at least it’s considerably shorter and provides the additional advantage of being compatible with pickle and copy.

creates a type similar to what I described in this answer, i.e. derived from tuple and using __slots__. It is available in Python 2.6 or above.

The easiest way to do this is using __slots__:

class A(object):
    __slots__ = []

Instances of A are immutable now, since you can’t set any attributes on them.

If you want the class instances to contain data, you can combine this with deriving from tuple:

from operator import itemgetter
class Point(tuple):
    __slots__ = []
    def __new__(cls, x, y):
        return tuple.__new__(cls, (x, y))
    x = property(itemgetter(0))
    y = property(itemgetter(1))

p = Point(2, 3)
p.x
# 2
p.y
# 3

Edit: If you want to get rid of indexing either, you can override __getitem__():

class Point(tuple):
    __slots__ = []
    def __new__(cls, x, y):
        return tuple.__new__(cls, (x, y))
    @property
    def x(self):
        return tuple.__getitem__(self, 0)
    @property
    def y(self):
        return tuple.__getitem__(self, 1)
    def __getitem__(self, item):
        raise TypeError

Note that you can’t use operator.itemgetter for the properties in thise case, since this would rely on Point.__getitem__() instead of tuple.__getitem__(). Fuerthermore this won’t prevent the use of tuple.__getitem__(p, 0), but I can hardly imagine how this should constitute a problem.

I don’t think the “right” way of creating an immutable object is writing a C extension. Python usually relies on library implementers and library users being consenting adults, and instead of really enforcing an interface, the interface should be clearly stated in the documentation. This is why I don’t consider the possibility of circumventing an overridden __setattr__() by calling object.__setattr__() a problem. If someone does this, it’s on her own risk.

..howto do it “properly” in C..

You could use Cython to create an extension type for Python:

cdef class Immutable:
    cdef readonly object a, b
    cdef object __weakref__ # enable weak referencing support

    def __init__(self, a, b):
        self.a, self.b = a, b

It works both Python 2.x and 3.

Tests

# compile on-the-fly
import pyximport; pyximport.install() # $ pip install cython
from immutable import Immutable

o = Immutable(1, 2)
assert o.a == 1, str(o.a)
assert o.b == 2

try: o.a = 3
except AttributeError:
    pass
else:
    assert 0, 'attribute must be readonly'

try: o[1]
except TypeError:
    pass
else:
    assert 0, 'indexing must not be supported'

try: o.c = 1
except AttributeError:
    pass
else:
    assert 0, 'no new attributes are allowed'

o = Immutable('a', [])
assert o.a == 'a'
assert o.b == []

o.b.append(3) # attribute may contain mutable object
assert o.b == [3]

try: o.c
except AttributeError:
    pass
else:
    assert 0, 'no c attribute'

o = Immutable(b=3,a=1)
assert o.a == 1 and o.b == 3

try: del o.b
except AttributeError:
    pass
else:
    assert 0, "can't delete attribute"

d = dict(b=3, a=1)
o = Immutable(**d)
assert o.a == d['a'] and o.b == d['b']

o = Immutable(1,b=3)
assert o.a == 1 and o.b == 3

try: object.__setattr__(o, 'a', 1)
except AttributeError:
    pass
else:
    assert 0, 'attributes are readonly'

try: object.__setattr__(o, 'c', 1)
except AttributeError:
    pass
else:
    assert 0, 'no new attributes'

try: Immutable(1,c=3)
except TypeError:
    pass
else:
    assert 0, 'accept only a,b keywords'

for kwd in [dict(a=1), dict(b=2)]:
    try: Immutable(**kwd)
    except TypeError:
        pass
    else:
        assert 0, 'Immutable requires exactly 2 arguments'

If you don’t mind indexing support then collections.namedtuple suggested by @Sven Marnach is preferrable:

Immutable = collections.namedtuple("Immutable", "a b")

Another idea would be to completely disallow __setattr__ and use object.__setattr__ in the constructor:

class Point(object):
    def __init__(self, x, y):
        object.__setattr__(self, "x", x)
        object.__setattr__(self, "y", y)
    def __setattr__(self, *args):
        raise TypeError
    def __delattr__(self, *args):
        raise TypeError

Of course you could use object.__setattr__(p, "x", 3) to modify a Point instance p, but your original implementation suffers from the same problem (try tuple.__setattr__(i, "x", 42) on an Immutable instance).

You can apply the same trick in your original implementation: get rid of __getitem__(), and use tuple.__getitem__() in your property functions.

You could create a @immutable decorator that either overrides the __setattr__ and change the __slots__ to an empty list, then decorate the __init__ method with it.

Edit: As the OP noted, changing the __slots__ attribute only prevents the creation of new attributes, not the modification.

Edit2: Here’s an implementation:

Edit3: Using __slots__ breaks this code, because if stops the creation of the object’s __dict__. I’m looking for an alternative.

Edit4: Well, that’s it. It’s a but hackish, but works as an exercise :-)

class immutable(object):
    def __init__(self, immutable_params):
        self.immutable_params = immutable_params

    def __call__(self, new):
        params = self.immutable_params

        def __set_if_unset__(self, name, value):
            if name in self.__dict__:
                raise Exception("Attribute %s has already been set" % name)

            if not name in params:
                raise Exception("Cannot create atribute %s" % name)

            self.__dict__[name] = value;

        def __new__(cls, *args, **kws):
            cls.__setattr__ = __set_if_unset__

            return super(cls.__class__, cls).__new__(cls, *args, **kws)

        return __new__

class Point(object):
    @immutable(['x', 'y'])
    def __new__(): pass

    def __init__(self, x, y):
        self.x = x
        self.y = y

p = Point(1, 2) 
p.x = 3 # Exception: Attribute x has already been set
p.z = 4 # Exception: Cannot create atribute z

Using a Frozen Dataclass

For Python 3.7+ you can use a Data Class with a frozen=True option, which is a very pythonic and maintainable way to do what you want.

It would look something like that:

from dataclasses import dataclass

@dataclass(frozen=True)
class Immutable:
    a: Any
    b: Any

As type hinting is required for dataclasses’ fields, I have used Any from the typing module.

Reasons NOT to use a Namedtuple

Before Python 3.7 it was frequent to see namedtuples being used as immutable objects. It can be tricky in many ways, one of them is that the __eq__ method between namedtuples does not consider the objects’ classes. For example:

from collections import namedtuple

ImmutableTuple = namedtuple("ImmutableTuple", ["a", "b"])
ImmutableTuple2 = namedtuple("ImmutableTuple2", ["a", "c"])

obj1 = ImmutableTuple(a=1, b=2)
obj2 = ImmutableTuple2(a=1, c=2)

obj1 == obj2  # will be True

As you see, even if the types of obj1 and obj2 are different, even if their fields’ names are different, obj1 == obj2 still gives True. That’s because the __eq__ method used is the tuple’s one, which compares only the values of the fields given their positions. That can be a huge source of errors, specially if you are subclassing these classes.

I don’t think it is entirely possible except by using either a tuple or a namedtuple. No matter what, if you override __setattr__() the user can always bypass it by calling object.__setattr__() directly. Any solution that depends on __setattr__ is guaranteed not to work.

The following is about the nearest you can get without using some sort of tuple:

class Immutable:
    __slots__ = ['a', 'b']
    def __init__(self, a, b):
        object.__setattr__(self, 'a', a)
        object.__setattr__(self, 'b', b)
    def __setattr__(self, *ignored):
        raise NotImplementedError
    __delattr__ = __setattr__

but it breaks if you try hard enough:

>>> t = Immutable(1, 2)
>>> t.a
1
>>> object.__setattr__(t, 'a', 2)
>>> t.a
2

but Sven’s use of namedtuple is genuinely immutable.

Update

Since the question has been updated to ask how to do it properly in C, here’s my answer on how to do it properly in Cython:

First immutable.pyx:

cdef class Immutable:
    cdef object _a, _b

    def __init__(self, a, b):
        self._a = a
        self._b = b

    property a:
        def __get__(self):
            return self._a

    property b:
        def __get__(self):
            return self._b

    def __repr__(self):
        return "<Immutable {0}, {1}>".format(self.a, self.b)

and a setup.py to compile it (using the command setup.py build_ext --inplace:

from distutils.core import setup
from distutils.extension import Extension
from Cython.Distutils import build_ext

ext_modules = [Extension("immutable", ["immutable.pyx"])]

setup(
  name = 'Immutable object',
  cmdclass = {'build_ext': build_ext},
  ext_modules = ext_modules
)

Then to try it out:

>>> from immutable import Immutable
>>> p = Immutable(2, 3)
>>> p
<Immutable 2, 3>
>>> p.a = 1
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
AttributeError: attribute 'a' of 'immutable.Immutable' objects is not writable
>>> object.__setattr__(p, 'a', 1)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
AttributeError: attribute 'a' of 'immutable.Immutable' objects is not writable
>>> p.a, p.b
(2, 3)
>>>      

I’ve made immutable classes by overriding __setattr__, and allowing the set if the caller is __init__:

import inspect
class Immutable(object):
    def __setattr__(self, name, value):
        if inspect.stack()[2][3] != "__init__":
            raise Exception("Can't mutate an Immutable: self.%s = %r" % (name, value))
        object.__setattr__(self, name, value)

This isn’t quite enough yet, since it allows anyone’s ___init__ to change the object, but you get the idea.

In addition to the excellent other answers I like to add a method for python 3.4 (or maybe 3.3). This answer builds upon several previouse answers to this question.

In python 3.4, you can use properties without setters to create class members that cannot be modified. (In earlier versions assigning to properties without a setter was possible.)

class A:
    __slots__=['_A__a']
    def __init__(self, aValue):
      self.__a=aValue
    @property
    def a(self):
        return self.__a

You can use it like this:

instance=A("constant")
print (instance.a)

which will print "constant"

But calling instance.a=10 will cause:

AttributeError: can't set attribute

Explaination: properties without setters are a very recent feature of python 3.4 (and I think 3.3). If you try to assign to such a property, an Error will be raised. Using slots I restrict the membervariables to __A_a (which is __a).

Problem: Assigning to _A__a is still possible (instance._A__a=2). But if you assign to a private variable, it is your own fault…

This answer among others, however, discourages the use of __slots__. Using other ways to prevent attribute creation might be preferrable.

Here’s an elegant solution:

class Immutable(object):
    def __setattr__(self, key, value):
        if not hasattr(self, key):
            super().__setattr__(key, value)
        else:
            raise RuntimeError("Can't modify immutable object's attribute: {}".format(key))

Inherit from this class, initialize your fields in the constructor, and you’e all set.

If you are interested in objects with behavior, then namedtuple is almost your solution.

As described at the bottom of the namedtuple documentation, you can derive your own class from namedtuple; and then, you can add the behavior you want.

For example (code taken directly from the documentation):

class Point(namedtuple('Point', 'x y')):
    __slots__ = ()
    @property
    def hypot(self):
        return (self.x ** 2 + self.y ** 2) ** 0.5
    def __str__(self):
        return 'Point: x=%6.3f  y=%6.3f  hypot=%6.3f' % (self.x, self.y, self.hypot)

for p in Point(3, 4), Point(14, 5/7):
    print(p)

This will result in:

Point: x= 3.000  y= 4.000  hypot= 5.000
Point: x=14.000  y= 0.714  hypot=14.018

This approach works for both Python 3 and Python 2.7 (tested on IronPython as well).
The only downside is that the inheritance tree is a bit weird; but this is not something you usually play with.

Classes which inherit from the following Immutable class are immutable, as are their instances, after their __init__ method finishes executing. Since it’s pure python, as others have pointed out, there’s nothing stopping someone from using the mutating special methods from the base object and type, but this is enough to stop anyone from mutating a class/instance by accident.

It works by hijacking the class-creation process with a metaclass.

"""Subclasses of class Immutable are immutable after their __init__ has run, in
the sense that all special methods with mutation semantics (in-place operators,
setattr, etc.) are forbidden.

"""  

# Enumerate the mutating special methods
mutation_methods = set()
# Arithmetic methods with in-place operations
iarithmetic = '''add sub mul div mod divmod pow neg pos abs bool invert lshift
                 rshift and xor or floordiv truediv matmul'''.split()
for op in iarithmetic:
    mutation_methods.add('__i%s__' % op)
# Operations on instance components (attributes, items, slices)
for verb in ['set', 'del']:
    for component in '''attr item slice'''.split():
        mutation_methods.add('__%s%s__' % (verb, component))
# Operations on properties
mutation_methods.update(['__set__', '__delete__'])


def checked_call(_self, name, method, *args, **kwargs):
    """Calls special method method(*args, **kw) on self if mutable."""
    self = args[0] if isinstance(_self, object) else _self
    if not getattr(self, '__mutable__', True):
        # self told us it's immutable, so raise an error
        cname= (self if isinstance(self, type) else self.__class__).__name__
        raise TypeError('%s is immutable, %s disallowed' % (cname, name))
    return method(*args, **kwargs)


def method_wrapper(_self, name):
    "Wrap a special method to check for mutability."
    method = getattr(_self, name)
    def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
        return checked_call(_self, name, method, *args, **kwargs)
    wrapper.__name__ = name
    wrapper.__doc__ = method.__doc__
    return wrapper


def wrap_mutating_methods(_self):
    "Place the wrapper methods on mutative special methods of _self"
    for name in mutation_methods:
        if hasattr(_self, name):
            method = method_wrapper(_self, name)
            type.__setattr__(_self, name, method)


def set_mutability(self, ismutable):
    "Set __mutable__ by using the unprotected __setattr__"
    b = _MetaImmutable if isinstance(self, type) else Immutable
    super(b, self).__setattr__('__mutable__', ismutable)


class _MetaImmutable(type):

    '''The metaclass of Immutable. Wraps __init__ methods via __call__.'''

    def __init__(cls, *args, **kwargs):
        # Make class mutable for wrapping special methods
        set_mutability(cls, True)
        wrap_mutating_methods(cls)
        # Disable mutability
        set_mutability(cls, False)

    def __call__(cls, *args, **kwargs):
        '''Make an immutable instance of cls'''
        self = cls.__new__(cls)
        # Make the instance mutable for initialization
        set_mutability(self, True)
        # Execute cls's custom initialization on this instance
        self.__init__(*args, **kwargs)
        # Disable mutability
        set_mutability(self, False)
        return self

    # Given a class T(metaclass=_MetaImmutable), mutative special methods which
    # already exist on _MetaImmutable (a basic type) cannot be over-ridden
    # programmatically during _MetaImmutable's instantiation of T, because the
    # first place python looks for a method on an object is on the object's
    # __class__, and T.__class__ is _MetaImmutable. The two extant special
    # methods on a basic type are __setattr__ and __delattr__, so those have to
    # be explicitly overridden here.

    def __setattr__(cls, name, value):
        checked_call(cls, '__setattr__', type.__setattr__, cls, name, value)

    def __delattr__(cls, name, value):
        checked_call(cls, '__delattr__', type.__delattr__, cls, name, value)


class Immutable(object):

    """Inherit from this class to make an immutable object.

    __init__ methods of subclasses are executed by _MetaImmutable.__call__,
    which enables mutability for the duration.

    """

    __metaclass__ = _MetaImmutable


class T(int, Immutable):  # Checks it works with multiple inheritance, too.

    "Class for testing immutability semantics"

    def __init__(self, b):
        self.b = b

    @classmethod
    def class_mutation(cls):
        cls.a = 5

    def instance_mutation(self):
        self.c = 1

    def __iadd__(self, o):
        pass

    def not_so_special_mutation(self):
        self +=1

def immutabilityTest(f, name):
    "Call f, which should try to mutate class T or T instance."
    try:
        f()
    except TypeError, e:
        assert 'T is immutable, %s disallowed' % name in e.args
    else:
        raise RuntimeError('Immutability failed!')

immutabilityTest(T.class_mutation, '__setattr__')
immutabilityTest(T(6).instance_mutation, '__setattr__')
immutabilityTest(T(6).not_so_special_mutation, '__iadd__')

I needed this a little while ago and decided to make a Python package for it. The initial version is on PyPI now:

$ pip install immutable

To use:

>>> from immutable import ImmutableFactory
>>> MyImmutable = ImmitableFactory.create(prop1=1, prop2=2, prop3=3)
>>> MyImmutable.prop1
1

Full docs here: https://github.com/theengineear/immutable

Hope it helps, it wraps a namedtuple as has been discussed, but makes instantiation much simpler.

This way doesn’t stop object.__setattr__ from working, but I’ve still found it useful:

class A(object):

    def __new__(cls, children, *args, **kwargs):
        self = super(A, cls).__new__(cls)
        self._frozen = False  # allow mutation from here to end of  __init__
        # other stuff you need to do in __new__ goes here
        return self

    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        super(A, self).__init__()
        self._frozen = True  # prevent future mutation

    def __setattr__(self, name, value):
        # need to special case setting _frozen.
        if name != '_frozen' and self._frozen:
            raise TypeError('Instances are immutable.')
        else:
            super(A, self).__setattr__(name, value)

    def __delattr__(self, name):
        if self._frozen:
            raise TypeError('Instances are immutable.')
        else:
            super(A, self).__delattr__(name)

you may need to override more stuff (like __setitem__) depending on the use case.

As of Python 3.7, you can use the @dataclass decorator in your class and it will be immutable like a struct! Though, it may or may not add a __hash__() method to your class. Quote:

hash() is used by built-in hash(), and when objects are added to hashed collections such as dictionaries and sets. Having a hash() implies that instances of the class are immutable. Mutability is a complicated property that depends on the programmer’s intent, the existence and behavior of eq(), and the values of the eq and frozen flags in the dataclass() decorator.

By default, dataclass() will not implicitly add a hash() method unless it is safe to do so. Neither will it add or change an existing explicitly defined hash() method. Setting the class attribute hash = None has a specific meaning to Python, as described in the hash() documentation.

If hash() is not explicit defined, or if it is set to None, then dataclass() may add an implicit hash() method. Although not recommended, you can force dataclass() to create a hash() method with unsafe_hash=True. This might be the case if your class is logically immutable but can nonetheless be mutated. This is a specialized use case and should be considered carefully.

Here the example from the docs linked above:

@dataclass
class InventoryItem:
    '''Class for keeping track of an item in inventory.'''
    name: str
    unit_price: float
    quantity_on_hand: int = 0

    def total_cost(self) -> float:
        return self.unit_price * self.quantity_on_hand

You can override setattr and still use init to set the variable. You would use super class setattr. here is the code.

class Immutable:
    __slots__ = ('a','b')
    def __init__(self, a , b):
        super().__setattr__('a',a)
        super().__setattr__('b',b)

    def __str__(self):
        return "".format(self.a, self.b)

    def __setattr__(self, *ignored):
        raise NotImplementedError

    def __delattr__(self, *ignored):
        raise NotImplementedError

The third party attr module provides this functionality.

Edit: python 3.7 has adopted this idea into the stdlib with @dataclass.

$ pip install attrs
$ python
>>> @attr.s(frozen=True)
... class C(object):
...     x = attr.ib()
>>> i = C(1)
>>> i.x = 2
Traceback (most recent call last):
   ...
attr.exceptions.FrozenInstanceError: can't set attribute

attr implements frozen classes by overriding __setattr__ and has a minor performance impact at each instantiation time, according to the documentation.

If you’re in the habit of using classes as datatypes, attr may be especially useful as it takes care of the boilerplate for you (but doesn’t do any magic). In particular, it writes nine dunder (__X__) methods for you (unless you turn any of them off), including repr, init, hash and all the comparison functions.

attr also provides a helper for __slots__.

So, I am writing respective of python 3:

I) with the help of data class decorator and set frozen=True. we can create immutable objects in python.

for this need to import data class from data classes lib and needs to set frozen=True

ex.

from dataclasses import dataclass

@dataclass(frozen=True)
class Location:
    name: str
    longitude: float = 0.0
    latitude: float = 0.0

o/p:

>>> l = Location("Delhi", 112.345, 234.788)
>>> l.name
'Delhi'
>>> l.longitude
112.345
>>> l.latitude
234.788
>>> l.name = "Kolkata"
dataclasses.FrozenInstanceError: cannot assign to field 'name'
>>> 

Source: https://realpython.com/python-data-classes/

An alternative approach is to create a wrapper which makes an instance immutable.

class Immutable(object):

    def __init__(self, wrapped):
        super(Immutable, self).__init__()
        object.__setattr__(self, '_wrapped', wrapped)

    def __getattribute__(self, item):
        return object.__getattribute__(self, '_wrapped').__getattribute__(item)

    def __setattr__(self, key, value):
        raise ImmutableError('Object {0} is immutable.'.format(self._wrapped))

    __delattr__ = __setattr__

    def __iter__(self):
        return object.__getattribute__(self, '_wrapped').__iter__()

    def next(self):
        return object.__getattribute__(self, '_wrapped').next()

    def __getitem__(self, item):
        return object.__getattribute__(self, '_wrapped').__getitem__(item)

immutable_instance = Immutable(my_instance)

This is useful in situations where only some instances have to be immutable (like default arguments of function calls).

Can also be used in immutable factories like:

@classmethod
def immutable_factory(cls, *args, **kwargs):
    return Immutable(cls.__init__(*args, **kwargs))

Also protects from object.__setattr__, but fallable to other tricks due to Python’s dynamic nature.

I used the same idea as Alex: a meta-class and an “init marker”, but in combination with over-writing __setattr__:

>>> from abc import ABCMeta
>>> _INIT_MARKER = '_@_in_init_@_'
>>> class _ImmutableMeta(ABCMeta):
... 
...     """Meta class to construct Immutable."""
... 
...     def __call__(cls, *args, **kwds):
...         obj = cls.__new__(cls, *args, **kwds)
...         object.__setattr__(obj, _INIT_MARKER, True)
...         cls.__init__(obj, *args, **kwds)
...         object.__delattr__(obj, _INIT_MARKER)
...         return obj
...
>>> def _setattr(self, name, value):
...     if hasattr(self, _INIT_MARKER):
...         object.__setattr__(self, name, value)
...     else:
...         raise AttributeError("Instance of '%s' is immutable."
...                              % self.__class__.__name__)
...
>>> def _delattr(self, name):
...     raise AttributeError("Instance of '%s' is immutable."
...                          % self.__class__.__name__)
...
>>> _im_dict = {
...     '__doc__': "Mix-in class for immutable objects.",
...     '__copy__': lambda self: self,   # self is immutable, so just return it
...     '__setattr__': _setattr,
...     '__delattr__': _delattr}
...
>>> Immutable = _ImmutableMeta('Immutable', (), _im_dict)

Note: I’m calling the meta-class directly to make it work both for Python 2.x and 3.x.

>>> class T1(Immutable):
... 
...     def __init__(self, x=1, y=2):
...         self.x = x
...         self.y = y
...
>>> t1 = T1(y=8)
>>> t1.x, t1.y
(1, 8)
>>> t1.x = 7
AttributeError: Instance of 'T1' is immutable.

It does work also with slots …:

>>> class T2(Immutable):
... 
...     __slots__ = 's1', 's2'
... 
...     def __init__(self, s1, s2):
...         self.s1 = s1
...         self.s2 = s2
...
>>> t2 = T2('abc', 'xyz')
>>> t2.s1, t2.s2
('abc', 'xyz')
>>> t2.s1 += 'd'
AttributeError: Instance of 'T2' is immutable.

… and multiple inheritance:

>>> class T3(T1, T2):
... 
...     def __init__(self, x, y, s1, s2):
...         T1.__init__(self, x, y)
...         T2.__init__(self, s1, s2)
...
>>> t3 = T3(12, 4, 'a', 'b')
>>> t3.x, t3.y, t3.s1, t3.s2
(12, 4, 'a', 'b')
>>> t3.y -= 3
AttributeError: Instance of 'T3' is immutable.

Note, however, that mutable attributes stay to be mutable:

>>> t3 = T3(12, [4, 7], 'a', 'b')
>>> t3.y.append(5)
>>> t3.y
[4, 7, 5]

One thing that’s not really included here is total immutability… not just the parent object, but all the children as well. tuples/frozensets may be immutable for instance, but the objects that it’s part of may not be. Here’s a small (incomplete) version that does a decent job of enforcing immutability all the way down:

# Initialize lists
a = [1,2,3]
b = [4,5,6]
c = [7,8,9]

l = [a,b]

# We can reassign in a list 
l[0] = c

# But not a tuple
t = (a,b)
#t[0] = c -> Throws exception
# But elements can be modified
t[0][1] = 4
t
([1, 4, 3], [4, 5, 6])
# Fix it back
t[0][1] = 2

li = ImmutableObject(l)
li
[[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]]
# Can't assign
#li[0] = c will fail
# Can reference
li[0]
[1, 2, 3]
# But immutability conferred on returned object too
#li[0][1] = 4 will throw an exception

# Full solution should wrap all the comparison e.g. decorators.
# Also, you'd usually want to add a hash function, i didn't put
# an interface for that.

class ImmutableObject(object):
    def __init__(self, inobj):
        self._inited = False
        self._inobj = inobj
        self._inited = True

    def __repr__(self):
        return self._inobj.__repr__()

    def __str__(self):
        return self._inobj.__str__()

    def __getitem__(self, key):
        return ImmutableObject(self._inobj.__getitem__(key))

    def __iter__(self):
        return self._inobj.__iter__()

    def __setitem__(self, key, value):
        raise AttributeError, 'Object is read-only'

    def __getattr__(self, key):
        x = getattr(self._inobj, key)
        if callable(x):
              return x
        else:
              return ImmutableObject(x)

    def __hash__(self):
        return self._inobj.__hash__()

    def __eq__(self, second):
        return self._inobj.__eq__(second)

    def __setattr__(self, attr, value):
        if attr not in  ['_inobj', '_inited'] and self._inited == True:
            raise AttributeError, 'Object is read-only'
        object.__setattr__(self, attr, value)

You can just override setAttr in the final statement of init. THen you can construct but not change. Obviously you can still override by usint object.setAttr but in practice most languages have some form of reflection so immutablility is always a leaky abstraction. Immutability is more about preventing clients from accidentally violating the contract of an object. I use:

=============================

The original solution offered was incorrect, this was updated based on the comments using the solution from here

The original solution is wrong in an interesting way, so it is included at the bottom.

===============================

class ImmutablePair(object):

    __initialised = False # a class level variable that should always stay false.
    def __init__(self, a, b):
        try :
            self.a = a
            self.b = b
        finally:
            self.__initialised = True #an instance level variable

    def __setattr__(self, key, value):
        if self.__initialised:
            self._raise_error()
        else :
            super(ImmutablePair, self).__setattr__(key, value)

    def _raise_error(self, *args, **kw):
        raise NotImplementedError("Attempted To Modify Immutable Object")

if __name__ == "__main__":

    immutable_object = ImmutablePair(1,2)

    print immutable_object.a
    print immutable_object.b

    try :
        immutable_object.a = 3
    except Exception as e:
        print e

    print immutable_object.a
    print immutable_object.b

Output :

1
2
Attempted To Modify Immutable Object
1
2

======================================

Original Implementation:

It was pointed out in the comments, correctly, that this does not in fact work, as it prevents the creation of more than one object as you are overriding the class setattr method, which means a second cannot be created as self.a = will fail on the second initialisation.

class ImmutablePair(object):

    def __init__(self, a, b):
        self.a = a
        self.b = b
        ImmutablePair.__setattr__ = self._raise_error

    def _raise_error(self, *args, **kw):
        raise NotImplementedError("Attempted To Modify Immutable Object")

The basic solution below addresses the following scenario:

• __init__() can be written accessing the attributes as usual.
• AFTER that the OBJECT is frozen for attributes changes only:

The idea is to override __setattr__ method and replace its implementation each time the object frozen status is changed.

So we need some method (_freeze) which stores those two implementations and switches between them when requested.

This mechanism may be implemented inside the user class or inherited from a special Freezer class as shown below:

class Freezer:
    def _freeze(self, do_freeze=True):
        def raise_sa(*args):            
            raise AttributeError("Attributes are frozen and can not be changed!")
        super().__setattr__('_active_setattr', (super().__setattr__, raise_sa)[do_freeze])

    def __setattr__(self, key, value):        
        return self._active_setattr(key, value)

class A(Freezer):    
    def __init__(self):
        self._freeze(False)
        self.x = 10
        self._freeze()

Just Like a dict

I have an open source library where I’m doing things in a functional way so moving data around in an immutable object is helpful. However, I don’t want to have to transform my data object for the client to interact with them. So, I came up with this – it gives you a dict like object thats immutable + some helper methods.

Credit to Sven Marnach in his answer for the basic implementation of restricting property updating and deleting.

import json 
# ^^ optional - If you don't care if it prints like a dict
# then rip this and __str__ and __repr__ out

class Immutable(object):

    def __init__(self, **kwargs):
        """Sets all values once given
        whatever is passed in kwargs
        """
        for k,v in kwargs.items():
            object.__setattr__(self, k, v)

    def __setattr__(self, *args):
        """Disables setting attributes via
        item.prop = val or item['prop'] = val
        """
        raise TypeError('Immutable objects cannot have properties set after init')

    def __delattr__(self, *args):
        """Disables deleting properties"""
        raise TypeError('Immutable objects cannot have properties deleted')

    def __getitem__(self, item):
        """Allows for dict like access of properties
        val = item['prop']
        """
        return self.__dict__[item]

    def __repr__(self):
        """Print to repl in a dict like fashion"""
        return self.pprint()

    def __str__(self):
        """Convert to a str in a dict like fashion"""
        return self.pprint()

    def __eq__(self, other):
        """Supports equality operator
        immutable({'a': 2}) == immutable({'a': 2})"""
        if other is None:
            return False
        return self.dict() == other.dict()

    def keys(self):
        """Paired with __getitem__ supports **unpacking
        new = { **item, **other }
        """
        return self.__dict__.keys()

    def get(self, *args, **kwargs):
        """Allows for dict like property access
        item.get('prop')
        """
        return self.__dict__.get(*args, **kwargs)

    def pprint(self):
        """Helper method used for printing that
        formats in a dict like way
        """
        return json.dumps(self,
            default=lambda o: o.__dict__,
            sort_keys=True,
            indent=4)

    def dict(self):
        """Helper method for getting the raw dict value
        of the immutable object"""
        return self.__dict__

Helper methods

def update(obj, **kwargs):
    """Returns a new instance of the given object with
    all key/val in kwargs set on it
    """
    return immutable({
        **obj,
        **kwargs
    })

def immutable(obj):
    return Immutable(**obj)

Examples

obj = immutable({
    'alpha': 1,
    'beta': 2,
    'dalet': 4
})

obj.alpha # 1
obj['alpha'] # 1
obj.get('beta') # 2

del obj['alpha'] # TypeError
obj.alpha = 2 # TypeError

new_obj = update(obj, alpha=10)

new_obj is not obj # True
new_obj.get('alpha') == 10 # True