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7 Class and Instance Variables

This document discusses class and instance variables in Python. Class variables are shared among all instances of a class, while instance variables are unique to each instance. It provides examples of correctly and incorrectly defining these, noting that class variables should generally be used for properties common to all instances, like a team name, while instance variables store values unique to each object, like a player's name or former teams. It concludes with an example of smart use of a class variable to track all team members across instances.

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12 views5 pages

7 Class and Instance Variables

This document discusses class and instance variables in Python. Class variables are shared among all instances of a class, while instance variables are unique to each instance. It provides examples of correctly and incorrectly defining these, noting that class variables should generally be used for properties common to all instances, like a team name, while instance variables store values unique to each object, like a player's name or former teams. It concludes with an example of smart use of a class variable to track all team members across instances.

Uploaded by

singhashwanicoder25
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Class and Instance Variables

In this lesson, we'll learn about the concepts of instance variables and class variables, and how to use class
variables correctly.

WE'LL COVER THE FOLLOWING

• De nitions
• Class Variables
• Instance Variables
• De ning Class Variables and Instance Variables
• Wrong Use of Class Variables
• Using Class Variables Smartly
• Explanation

In Python, properties can be defined into two parts:

class variables
instance variables

Properties

class instance
variables variables

De nitions #
Class Variables #

The class variables are shared by all instances or objects of the classes. A
change in the class variable will change the value of that property in all the
objects of the class.

Instance Variables #
The instance variables are unique to each instance or object of the class. A
change in the instance variable will change the value of the property in that
specific object only.

De ning Class Variables and Instance Variables #


Class variables are defined outside the initializer and instance variables are
defined inside the initializer.

class Player:
teamName = 'Liverpool' # class variables

def __init__(self, name):


self.name = name # creating instance variables

p1 = Player('Mark')
p2 = Player('Steve')

print("Name:", p1.name)
print("Team Name:", p1.teamName)
print("Name:", p2.name)
print("Team Name:", p2.teamName)

In line 2, we have created a class variable and in line 5, we have created an


instance variable.

Wrong Use of Class Variables #


It is imperative to use class variables properly since they are shared by all the
class objects and can be modified using any one of them. Below is an example
of wrongful use of class variables:

class Player:
formerTeams = [] # class variables
teamName = 'Liverpool'
def __init__(self, name):

self.name = name # creating instance variables

p1 = Player('Mark')
p2 = Player('Steve')

p1 = Player('Mark')
p1.formerTeams.append('Barcelona')
p2 = Player('Steve')
p2.formerTeams.append('Chelsea')

print("Name:", p1.name)
print("Team Name:", p1.teamName)
print(p1.formerTeams)
print("Name:", p2.name)
print("Team Name:", p2.teamName)
print(p2.formerTeams)

In the example above, while the instance variable name is unique for each and
every object of the Player class, the class variable, formerTeams , can be
accessed by any object of the class and is updated throughout. We are storing
all players currently playing for the same team, but each player in the team
may have played for different former teams. To avoid this issue, the correct
implementation of the example above will be the following:

class Player:
teamName = 'Liverpool' # class variables

def __init__(self, name):


self.name = name # creating instance variables
self.formerTeams = []

p1 = Player('Mark')
p1.formerTeams.append('Barcelona')
p2 = Player('Steve')
p2.formerTeams.append('Chelsea')

print("Name:", p1.name)
print("Team Name:", p1.teamName)
print(p1.formerTeams)
print("Name:", p2.name)
print("Team Name:", p2.teamName)
print(p2.formerTeams)
Now the property formerTeams is unique for each Player class object and can
only be accessed by that unique object.

Using Class Variables Smartly #


Class variables are useful when implementing properties that should be
common and accessible to all class objects. Let’s see an example of this:

class Player:
teamName = 'Liverpool' # class variables
teamMembers = []

def __init__(self, name):


self.name = name # creating instance variables
self.formerTeams = []
self.teamMembers.append(self.name)

p1 = Player('Mark')
p2 = Player('Steve')

print("Name:", p1.name)
print("Team Members:")
print(p1.teamMembers)
print("")
print("Name:", p2.name)
print("Team Members:")
print(p2.teamMembers)

Explanation #
In the example above, we’ve defined a class variable teamMembers , which
is a list that will be shared by all the objects of the class Player .

This list, teamMembers , will contain names of all the instances created of
the Player class.

As you can see in line 8, whenever a new object is created, its name is
appended in teamMembers .

In line 16 and line 20, we can see that teamMembers is accessed by p1 and
p2 respectively and both produce the same output.
In the next lesson, we’ll learn about implementing methods in a class.

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