Python Classes & Objects

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https://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/datastructures.html

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https://docs.python.org/2/library/sqlite3.html

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 Object Oriented
• A program is made up of many cooperating objects
• Instead of being the “whole program” - each object is a
little “island” within the program and cooperatively
working with other objects.

• A program is made up of one or more objects working

together - objects make use of each other’s capabilities

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movies = list()
movie1 = dict()
movie1['Director'] = 'James Cameron'
movie1['Title'] = 'Avatar'
movie1['Release Date'] = '18 December
2009'
movie1['Running Time'] = '162 minutes'
movie1['Rating'] = 'PG-13'
movies.append(movie1)
movie2 = dict()
movie2['Director'] = 'David Fincher'
movie2['Title'] = 'The Social Network'
movie2['Release Date'] = '01 October 2010'
movie2['Running Time'] = '120 min'
movie2['Rating'] = 'PG-13'
movies.append(movie2)

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keys = ['Title', 'Director', 'Rating',
'Running Time']

print '-----------'
print movies
print '-----------'
print keys

for item in movies:

print '-----------'
for key in keys:
print key,': ', item[key]

print '-----------'

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Input
Dictionary
Object

Object
String
Objects get
created and
used Output

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Input
Code/Data
Code/Data

Code/Data
Code/Data
Objects are
bits of code
and data Output

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 Input
Code/Data
Code/Data

Code/Data
Code/Data
Objects hide
detail - they allow
us to ignore the
detail of the “rest Output
of the program”.

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 Object
• An Object is a bit of self-contained Code and Data
• A key aspect of the Object approach is to break the
problem into smaller understandable parts (divide and
conquer)
• Objects have boundaries that allow us to ignore un-
needed detail
• We have been using objects all along: String Objects,
Integer Objects, Dictionary Objects, List Objects...

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 Definitions

• Class - a template - Dog

• Method or Message - A defined capability of a class -
bark()
• Field or attribute- A bit of data in a class - length
• Object or Instance - A particular instance of a class -
Lassie

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 Terminology: Class
Defines the abstract characteristics of a thing (object), including
the thing's characteristics (its attributes, fields or properties) and
the thing's behaviors (the things it can do, or methods,
operations or features). One might say that a class is a blueprint
or factory that describes the nature of something. For example,
the class Dog would consist of traits shared by all dogs, such as
breed and fur color (characteristics), and the ability to bark and
sit (behaviors).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object-oriented_programming

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 Terminology: Class
A pattern (exemplar) of a class. The
class of Dog defines all possible dogs by
listing the characteristics and behaviors
they can have; the object Lassie is one
particular dog, with particular versions
of the characteristics. A Dog has fur;
Lassie has brown-and-white fur.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object-oriented_programming

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 Terminology: Instance
One can have an instance of a class or a particular object. The
instance is the actual object created at runtime. In programmer
jargon, the Lassie object is an instance of the Dog class. The set
of values of the attributes of a particular object is called its state.
The object consists of state and the behavior that's defined in
the object's class.
Object and Instance are often used interchangeably.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object-oriented_programming

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 Terminology: Method
An object's abilities. In language, methods are verbs. Lassie,
being a Dog, has the ability to bark. So bark() is one of Lassie's
methods. She may have other methods as well, for example sit()
or eat() or walk() or save_timmy(). Within the program, using a
method usually affects only one particular object; all Dogs can
bark, but you need only one particular dog to do the barking
Method and Message are often used interchangeably.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object-oriented_programming

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A Sample Class

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class is a reserved This is the template
class PartyAnimal:
word. for making
x=0
PartyAnimal objects.
def party(self) : Each PartyAnimal
Each PartyAnimal self.x = self.x + 1 object has a bit of
object has a bit of print "So far",self.x data.
code.
an = PartyAnimal() Create a PartyAnimal
object.
Tell the object an.party()
to run the an.party() PartyAnimal.party(an)
party() code. an.party()
run party() *within* the object an

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class PartyAnimal: “self” is a formal
x=0 argument that refers to
the object itself.
def party(self) :
self.x = self.x + 1 self.x is saying “x within self”
print "So far",self.x
an
self x0
an = PartyAnimal()
party()
an.party()
an.party()
an.party() self is “global within this
object”

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 Playing with dir() and type()

A Nerdy Way to Find Capabilities

• The dir() command lists >>> x = list()

>>> type(x)
capabilities <type 'list'>
• Ignore the ones with >>> dir(x)
['__add__', '__class__',
underscores - these are used by '__contains__', '__delattr__',
Python itself '__delitem__', '__delslice__',
'__doc__', '__eq__', '__setitem__',
• The rest are real operations that '__setslice__', '__str__',
the object can perform 'append', 'count', 'extend',
• It is like type() - it tells us 'index', 'insert', 'pop', 'remove',
'reverse', 'sort']
something *about* a variable >>>

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 Try dir() with a String
>>> y = “Hello there”
>>> dir(y)
['__add__', '__class__', '__contains__', '__delattr__', '__doc__',
'__eq__', '__ge__', '__getattribute__', '__getitem__',
'__getnewargs__', '__getslice__', '__gt__', '__hash__', '__init__',
'__le__', '__len__', '__lt__', '__repr__', '__rmod__', '__rmul__',
'__setattr__', '__str__', 'capitalize', 'center', 'count', 'decode',
'encode', 'endswith', 'expandtabs', 'find', 'index', 'isalnum',
'isalpha', 'isdigit', 'islower', 'isspace', 'istitle', 'isupper',
'join', 'ljust', 'lower', 'lstrip', 'partition', 'replace', 'rfind',
'rindex', 'rjust', 'rpartition', 'rsplit', 'rstrip', 'split',
'splitlines', 'startswith', 'strip', 'swapcase', 'title',
'translate', 'upper', 'zfill']

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class PartyAnimal:
x = 0 We can use dir() to find
the “capabilities” of our
def party(self) : newly created class.
self.x = self.x + 1
print "So far",self.x

an = PartyAnimal()
$ python party2.py
print "Type", type(an) Type <type 'instance'>
print "Dir ", dir(an) Dir ['__doc__',
'__module__', 'party', 'x']

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What Are Classes Useful For?

• Recall the midterm problem asking for a data

structure for a person with: ID, first & last name, and
salary?
• How could we use a Python class for this?

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 Object Lifecycle
• Objects are created, used and discarded
• We have special blocks of code (methods) that get
called
• At the moment of creation (constructor)
• At the moment of destruction (destructor)
• Constructors are used a lot
• Destructors are seldom used

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 Constructor

• The primary purpose of the constructor is to set up

some instance variables to have the proper initial
values when the object is created

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class PartyAnimal:
x = 0

def __init__(self):
$ python party2.py
print "I am constructed"
I am constructed
So far 1
def party(self) : So far 2
self.x = self.x + 1 So far 3
print "So far",self.x I am destructed 3

def __del__(self):
print "I am destructed",
self.x
The constructor and
destructor are optional. The
an = PartyAnimal() constructor is typically used
an.party()
an.party() to set up variables. The
an.party() destructor is seldom used.

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 Constructor

• In object oriented programming, a constructor in a

class is a special block of statements called when an
object is created

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructor_(computer_science)

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 Many Instances

• We can create lots of objects - the class is the template

for the object
• We can store each distinct object in its own variable
• We call this having multiple instances of the same class
• Each instance has its own copy of the instance variables

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class PartyAnimal:
x = 0
name = ""
def __init__(self, nam): Constructors can have
self.name = nam
print self.name,"constructed"
additional parameters.
These can be used to set
def party(self) :
self.x = self.x + 1 up instance variables for
print self.name,"party count",self.x the particular instance of
s = PartyAnimal("Sally") the class (i.e., for the
s.party()
particular object).
j = PartyAnimal("Jim")
j.party()
s.party()

Let’s See What Happens When These Are Evaluated

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 Definitions
• Class - a template - Dog
• Method or Message - A defined capability of a class -
bark()
• Object or Instance - A particular instance of a class -
Lassie
• Constructor - A method which is called when the
instance / object is created

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 Inheritance
• When we make a new class - we can reuse an existing
class and inherit all the capabilities of an existing class
and then add our own little bit to make our new class
• Another form of store and reuse
• Write once - reuse many times
• The new class (child) has all the capabilities of the old
class (parent) - and then some more

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Terminology: Inheritance

‘Subclasses’ are more specialized versions of a class, which inherit

attributes and behaviors from their parent classes, and can
introduce their own.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object-oriented_programming

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class PartyAnimal: s = PartyAnimal("Sally")
x = 0 s.party()
name = ""
def __init__(self, nam):
self.name = nam
j = FootballFan("Jim")
print self.name,"constructed" j.party()
j.touchdown()
def party(self) :
self.x = self.x + 1
print self.name,"party count",self.x

class FootballFan(PartyAnimal): FootballFan is a class which

points = 0
extends PartyAnimal. It has all
def touchdown(self):
the capabilities of PartyAnimal
self.points = self.points + 7
self.party() and more.
print self.name,"points",self.points

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class PartyAnimal: s = PartyAnimal("Sally")
x = 0 s.party()
name = ""
def __init__(self, nam):
self.name = nam
j = FootballFan("Jim")
print self.name,"constructed" j.party()
j.touchdown()
def party(self) :
self.x = self.x + 1
print self.name,"party count",self.x s
x
class FootballFan(PartyAnimal):
points = 0
def touchdown(self):
name: Sally
self.points = self.points + 7
self.party()
print self.name,"points",self.points

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class PartyAnimal: s = PartyAnimal("Sally")
x = 0 s.party()
name = ""
def __init__(self, nam):
self.name = nam
j = FootballFan("Jim")
print self.name,"constructed" j.party()
j.touchdown()
def party(self) :
self.x = self.x + 1
print self.name,"party count",self.x j
x
class FootballFan(PartyAnimal):
points = 0
def touchdown(self):
name: Jim
self.points = self.points + 7
self.party() points
print self.name,"points",self.points

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 Definitions
• Class - a template - Dog
• Method or Message - A defined capability of a class - bark()
• Object or Instance - A particular instance of a class - Lassie
• Constructor - A method which is called when the instance / object
is created
• Inheritance - the ability to take a class and extend it to make a new
class.

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 Summary

• Object Oriented programming is a very structured approach to

code reuse.
• We can group data and functionality together and create
many independent instances of a class

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