class Structure: _fields= [] def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs): if len(args) > len(self._fields): raise TypeError('Expected {} arguments'.format(len(self._fields))) # Set all of the positional arguments for name, value in zip(self._fields, args): setattr(self, name, value) # Set the remaining keyword arguments for name in self._fields[len(args):]: setattr(self, name, kwargs.pop(name)) # Check for any remaining unknown arguments if kwargs: raise TypeError('Invalid argument(s): {}'.format(','.join(kwargs))) # Example use if __name__ == '__main__': class Stock(Structure): _fields = ['name', 'shares', 'price'] s1 = Stock('ACME', 50, 91.1) s2 = Stock('ACME', 50, price=91.1) s3 = Stock('ACME', shares=50, price=91.1)