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45 Creating A Class

The document discusses how to create a class in Python. It explains the basic syntax for defining a class, including using the class keyword, inheriting from the object class, adding attributes and methods to a class, and using the self argument in methods.

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25 views3 pages

45 Creating A Class

The document discusses how to create a class in Python. It explains the basic syntax for defining a class, including using the class keyword, inheriting from the object class, adding attributes and methods to a class, and using the self argument in methods.

Uploaded by

Anonymous gqSpNAmlW
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Creating a Class

How to create a class in python?

Creating a class in Python is very easy. Here is a very simple example:

# Python 2.x syntax


class Vehicle(object):
"""docstring"""

def __init__(self):
"""Constructor"""
pass

This class doesn’t do anything in particular, however it is a very good learning


tool. For example, to create a class, we need to use Python’s class keyword,
followed by the name of the class. In Python, convention says that the class
name should have the first letter capitalized. Next we have an open
parentheses followed by the word object and a closed parentheses. The
object is what the class is based on or inheriting from. This is known as the
base class or parent class. Most classes in Python are based on object. Classes
have a special method called __init__ (for initialization). This method is called
whenever you create (or instantiate) an object based on this class. The __init__
method is only called once and is not to be called again inside the program.
Another term for __init__ is constructor, although this term isn’t used that
much in Python.

You may be wondering why I keep saying method instead of function. A


function changes its name to “method” when it is within a class. You will also
notice that every method has to have at least one argument (i.e. self), which is
not true with a regular function.

In Python 3, we don’t need to explicitly say we’re inheriting from object.


Instead, we could have written the above like this:

# Python 3.x syntax


class Vehicle:
"""docstring"""

def __init__(self):
"""Constructor"""
pass

You will notice that the only difference is that we no longer need the
parentheses if we’re basing our class on object. Let’s expand our class
definition a bit and give it some attributes and methods.

class Vehicle(object):
"""docstring"""

def __init__(self, color, doors, tires):


"""Constructor"""
self.color = color
self.doors = doors
self.tires = tires

def brake(self):
"""
Stop the car
"""
return "Braking"

def drive(self):
"""
Drive the car
"""
return "I'm driving!"

The code above added three attributes and two methods. The three attributes
are:

self.color = color
self.doors = doors
self.tires = tires

Attributes describe the vehicle. So the vehicle has a color, some number of
doors and some number of tires. It also has two methods. A method describes
what a class does. So in this case, a vehicle can brake and drive. You may
have noticed that all of the methods, including the first one have a funny
argument called self. Let’s talk about that!

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