Understanding Base Classes

One of the reasons Poriscope is so easy to extend is thanks to base classes.

What Is a Base Class?

In object-oriented programming, a base class (also called a superclass) defines common structure and behavior that other classes can inherit from. It’s super useful for keeping your code consistent and avoiding repetition.

Imagine a House Blueprint

You’re an architect designing all sorts of houses. No matter the style, every house needs a few basic things:

Some things come included, so you don’t need to think about them:

  • Walls

  • A front door

  • A roof

Other things, you do need to decide for yourself:

  • Paint color

  • Accessories

  • Furniture

But the point is, every house still needs all of them.

So, you create a blueprint called HousePlan. It doesn’t build the house — it just tells you what’s absolutely required.

This is exactly what our MetaXXXX classes do. They are a base structure. On their own, they don’t do anything yet — but they define what must exist for a real analysis tab to work. Some methods come ready to use, and others are left for you to customize — those are marked with @abstractmethod.

Now Let’s Build a Real House

Let’s say you decide to build a Modern Smart House. It has:

  • A front door and a roof (as required by the blueprint)

  • But also, solar panels, smart lighting, and an Alexa

You build this house using the HousePlan blueprint and call it SmartHouse. It follows the rules, but adds its own unique features.

So, in Programmer Talk:

MetaXXXX = HousePlan → defines what every analysis tab must have (but doesn’t build one)
CustomXXX = SmartHouse → follows the rules, but creates a fully functional, unique tab