class Structure: # Class variable that specifies expected fields _fields= [] def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs): if len(args) != len(self._fields): raise TypeError('Expected {} arguments'.format(len(self._fields))) # Set the arguments for name, value in zip(self._fields, args): setattr(self, name, value) # Set the additional arguments (if any) extra_args = kwargs.keys() - self._fields for name in extra_args: setattr(self, name, kwargs.pop(name)) if kwargs: raise TypeError('Duplicate values for {}'.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, 91.1, date='8/2/2012')