.. _class:

Classes
=======


Field class
-----------

.. autosummary::
   :nosignatures:
   :toctree:

   ~cf.Field		              

Field component classes
-----------------------

.. autosummary::
   :nosignatures:
   :toctree: generated/

   ~cf.CellMeasures   
   ~cf.CellMethods
   ~cf.Coordinate     
   ~cf.CoordinateBounds
   ~cf.Data           
   ~cf.Flags
   ~cf.Space           
   ~cf.Transform      
   ~cf.Units          

Miscellaneous classes
---------------------

.. autosummary::
   :nosignatures:
   :toctree: generated/

   ~cf.Comparison     
   ~cf.CoordinateList 
   ~cf.FieldList      

Base classes
------------

.. autosummary::
   :nosignatures:
   :toctree: generated/

   ~cf.CfList         
   ~cf.CfDict       
   ~cf.Variable       
   ~cf.VariableList


.. _inheritance_diagrams:

Inheritance diagrams
--------------------

The classes defined by the cf package inherit as follows.

----

Classes :class:`.Data`, :class:`.Units`, :class:`.Flags` and
:class:`.Variable` all inherit directly from the built-in
:func:`object()`. Classes :class:`.Field`, :class:`.Coordinate`,
:class:`.CoordinateBounds` and :class:`.CellMeasures` are all
sub-classes of :class:`.Variable`:

.. image:: images/object.png

.. To reproduce the inheritance diagram, uncomment this
   .. inheritance-diagram:: cf.Flags
                            cf.Data
                            cf.Units
                            cf.Coordinate
                            cf.CoordinateBounds
                            cf.CellMeasures
                            cf.Field
      :parts: 1

----

Classes :class:`.CfList`, :class:`.VariableList`, :class:`.FieldList`,
:class:`.CoordinateList` and :class:`.CellMethods` are list-like
objects and inherit the built-in :class:`~collections.MutableSequence`
abstract base class:

.. image:: images/CfList.png

.. To reproduce the inheritance diagram, uncomment this
   .. inheritance-diagram:: cf.FieldList
                            cf.CoordinateList
                            cf.CellMethods
      :parts: 1

This inheritance diagram shows, for example, that a
:class:`.FieldList` object is an iterable [1]_ which supports
efficient element access using integer indices and defines a ``len()``
method that returns the length of the sequence.

----

Classes :class:`.CfDict`, :class:`.Space` and :class:`.Transform` are
dictionary-like objects and inherit the built-in
:class:`~collections.MutableMapping` abstract base class.

.. image:: images/CfDict.png

.. To reproduce the inheritance diagram, uncomment this
   .. inheritance-diagram:: cf.Space		 
                            cf.Transform		
      :parts: 1

----

.. rubric:: Footnotes

.. [1] An object capable of returning its members one at a time.