Add concrete keyword to descendents

doc/reference/param/parameterized_helpers.md

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
   param.parameterized.batch_call_watchers
   concrete_descendents
   depends
+  descendents
   discard_events
   edit_constant
   output

param/_utils.py

@@ -518,26 +518,52 @@ def _is_number(obj):
     else: return False
 
 
-def _is_abstract(class_):
+def _is_abstract(class_: type) -> bool:
+    if inspect.isabstract(class_):
+        return True
     try:
         return class_.abstract
     except AttributeError:
         return False
 
 
-def descendents(class_):
+def descendents(class_: type, concrete: bool = False) -> list[type]:
     """
-    Return a list of the class hierarchy below (and including) the given class.
+    Return a list of all descendant classes of a given class.
 
-    The list is ordered from least- to most-specific.  Can be useful for
-    printing the contents of an entire class hierarchy.
-    """
-    assert isinstance(class_,type)
+    This function performs a breadth-first traversal of the class hierarchy,
+    collecting all subclasses of `class_`. The result includes `class_` itself
+    and all of its subclasses. If `concrete=True`, abstract base classes
+    are excluded from the result.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    class_ : type
+        The base class whose descendants should be found.
+    concrete : bool, optional
+        If `True`, exclude abstract classes from the result. Default is `False`.
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    list of type
+        A list of descendant classes, ordered from the most base to the most derived.
+
+    Examples
+    --------
+    >>> class A: pass
+    >>> class B(A): pass
+    >>> class C(A): pass
+    >>> class D(B): pass
+    >>> descendents(A)
+    [A, B, C, D]
+    """
+    if not isinstance(class_, type):
+        raise TypeError(f"descendents expected a class object, not {type(class_).__name__}")
     q = [class_]
     out = []
     while len(q):
         x = q.pop(0)
-        out.insert(0,x)
+        out.insert(0, x)
         try:
             subclasses = x.__subclasses__()
         except TypeError:
@@ -547,7 +573,7 @@ def descendents(class_):
         for b in subclasses:
             if b not in q and b not in out:
                 q.append(b)
-    return out[::-1]
+    return [kls for kls in out if not (concrete and _is_abstract(kls))][::-1]
 
 
 # Could be a method of ClassSelector.

tests/testutils.py

@@ -7,9 +7,14 @@
 import param
 import pytest
 
-from param import descendents, guess_param_types, resolve_path
-from param.parameterized import bothmethod
-from param._utils import _is_mutable_container, iscoroutinefunction, gen_types
+from param import guess_param_types, resolve_path
+from param.parameterized import bothmethod, Parameterized
+from param._utils import (
+    _is_mutable_container,
+    descendents,
+    iscoroutinefunction,
+    gen_types,
+)
 
 
 try:
@@ -444,3 +449,26 @@ def _int_types():
 def test_descendents_object():
     # Used to raise an unhandled error, see https://github.com/holoviz/param/issues/1013.
     assert descendents(object)
+
+
+def test_descendents_bad_type():
+    with pytest.raises(
+        TypeError,
+        match="descendents expected a class object, not int"
+    ):
+        descendents(1)
+
+class A(Parameterized):
+    __abstract = True
+class B(A): pass
+class C(A): pass
+class X(B): pass
+class Y(B): pass
+
+
+def test_descendents():
+    assert descendents(A) == [A, B, C, X, Y]
+
+
+def test_descendents_concrete():
+    assert descendents(A, concrete=True) == [B, C, X, Y]