CS: Objects in Python

Polymorphism

Lab - Polymorphism

Polymorphism Lab 1

Lab 1
This lab will focus on using polymorphism while interacting with a
contact list. There will be a main class Contacts that controls the “view” the
user sees and responds to user input. The contact information (personal
and work) will be an instance of the Information class.

The Contacts Class

This lab is built around the Contacts class, which has four attributes:
* view - This attribute controls what the user sees. When the value for view
changes, the information changes. There are four different views.
* List view - Shows the list of all of the contacts.
* Information view - Shows the work and personal information for a
particular contact.
* Add view - Add information for a new contact.
* Quit view - Leave a message for the user and then end the script.
* contact_list - This is a list of objects that contain the information for
each contact.
* choice - This attribute represents input from the user and is used to
change the view.
* index - This attribute keeps track of the particular contact whose
information is to be displayed.

For testing purposes, set self.view to 'quit'. We will change this to a more
appropriate value later on. The other attributes do not need a value when
instantiating the object. Make contact_list an empty list, and set choice
and index to None.

class Contacts:
def __init__(self):
self.view = 'quit'
self.contact_list = []
self.choice = None
self.index = None

The Display Method

The display method is designed to be a loop that runs until the user tells
the script to end. The method checks the value of the view attribute and
calls the appropriate method that displays the information for each view.
Since the loop is while True, be sure to include a break statement otherwise
the loop would never stop (Python would eventually stop the script with
an error message).

def display(self):
while True:
if self.view == 'list':
self.show_list()
elif self.view == 'info':
self.show_info()
elif self.view == 'add':
print()
self.add_contact()
elif self.view == 'quit':
print('\nClosing the contact list...\n')
break
Starting the Other Methods
The display method calls three other methods. Trying to test the code
would cause your script to crash as these methods have not yet been
defined. We can create the methods with the pass statement, which allows
for the code to run (pass is a place holder). We will come back later and
replace pass with working code.

def show_list(self):
pass

def show_info(self):
pass

def add_contact(self):
pass

Testing Your Code

Before moving on to the next part of the script, we want to check that our
code is working. To do that, instantiate a Contacts object and call the
display method.

contacts = Contacts()
contacts.display()

Run your program. Because the view attribute is 'quit', the script should
immediately display a message and then stop. Your output should look
something like this.

Lab 1 Output

Code
Your code should look like this:

class Contacts:
def __init__(self):
self.view = 'quit'
self.contact_list = []
self.choice = None
self.index = None

def display(self):
while True:
if self.view == 'list':
self.show_list()
elif self.view == 'info':
self.show_info()
elif self.view == 'add':
print()
self.add_contact()
elif self.view == 'quit':
print('\nClosing the contact list...\n')
break

def show_list(self):
pass

def show_info(self):
pass

def add_contact(self):
pass

contacts = Contacts()
contacts.display()
Polymorphism Lab 2

Adding a Contact
The first thing we need to do is change the default view when a Contacts
object is instantiated. The list view should be the first view shown to the
user. Change the value for self.view from 'quit' to 'list' in the
constructor.

def __init__(self):
self.view = 'list'

Next we want to modify the show_list method to show the list of people in
the contact list. There are two possible states for the list view: the list is
empty or there are contacts in the list. When the list is empty, the user will
be provided with the choice to add a contact or quit the script. Use a
conditional to represent these two states. For now, set self.view to 'quit'
in the else branch.

The print statement is to add a blank line for legibility. If

self.contact_list is an empty list (has a length of 0), then present the user
with a choice. Store their input in self.choice. The .lower() will convert
the user choice to a lowercase letter. This will make comparisons easier.
Remember, Python is case sensitive; q and Q are not the same. By forcing
all input to lowercase, we only need to test for the lowercase letter. The
method ends by calling another method to handle the user’s choice.

def show_list(self):
print()
if len(self.contact_list) == 0:
self.choice = input('(A)dd a new contact \n(Q)uit \n> ').lower()

else:
self.view = 'quit'
self.handle_choice()
Handling User Choices
Every time the user makes a choice, we want to evaluate that choice and
perform the appropriate action. In this case, the user can choose between
adding a contact or quitting the script. Notice that self.view only changes
to 'add' if 'a' is entered and we are in list view. We only want to add new
contacts from the list view.

def handle_choice(self):
if self.choice == 'q':
self.view = 'quit'
elif self.choice == 'a' and self.view == 'list':
self.view = 'add'

The Information Class

The Information class is used to store the information about a contact.
These objects are elements in the self.contact_list. We need to define this
class before we can add new contacts to the list. The constructor is going to
ask the user to input the first name, last name, personal phone number,
personal email, work phone number, work email, and work title. Enter the
code for the Information class after the Contacts class but before contacts is
instantiated.

class Information:
def __init__(self):
self.first_name = input('Enter their first name: ')
self.last_name = input('Enter their last name: ')
self.personal_phone = input('Enter their personal phone number: ')

self.personal_email = input('Enter their personal email address: '

self.work_phone = input('Enter their work phone number: ')

self.work_email = input('Enter their work email address: ')
self.title = input('Enter their work title: ')
Adding a Contact
Now that the Information class has been declared, we can add a new
contact. To do this, we are going to modify the add_contact method. To add
some polymorphism to the lab, we are going to overload the + operator to
add an Information object to self.contact_list. Once the element has been
added, revert back to the list view.

def __add__(self, new_contact):

self.contact_list.append(new_contact)

def add_contact(self):
self + Information()
self.view = 'list'

Testing Your Code

Before moving on to the next part of the script, we want to check that our
code is adding a contact to the list. To do that, enter a when prompted,
then add the following contact:

Rachel
Kim
555 123-4567
[email protected]
555 890-1234
[email protected]
Senior Software Engineer

Then add the following code at the end of your script to check that the
contact was actually added to the list. Your script should print 1 as there is
one contact (“Rachel”) in the list.

contacts = Contacts()
contacts.display()
print(len(contacts.contact_list))

Code
Your code should look like this:

class Contacts:
def __init__(self):
self.view = 'list'
self.contact_list = []
self.choice = None
self.index = None

def display(self):
while True:
if self.view == 'list':
self.show_list()
elif self.view == 'info':
self.show_info()
elif self.view == 'add':
print()
self.add_contact()
elif self.view == 'quit':
print('\nClosing the contact list...\n')
break

def show_list(self):
print()
if len(self.contact_list) == 0:
self.choice = input('(A)dd a new contact \n(Q)uit \n> ').lower()

else:
self.view = 'quit'
self.handle_choice()

def show_info(self):
pass

def __add__(self, new_contact):

self.contact_list.append(new_contact)

def add_contact(self):
self + Information()
self.view = 'list'
 def handle_choice(self):
if self.choice == 'q':
self.view = 'quit'
elif self.choice == 'a' and self.view == 'list':
self.view = 'add'

class Information:
def __init__(self):
self.first_name = input('Enter their first name: ')
self.last_name = input('Enter their last name: ')
self.personal_phone = input('Enter their personal phone number: '

self.personal_email = input('Enter their personal email address: '

self.work_phone = input('Enter their work phone number: ')

self.work_email = input('Enter their work email address: ')
self.title = input('Enter their work title: ')

contacts = Contacts()
contacts.display()
print(len(contacts.contact_list))
Polymorphism Lab 3

Displaying the List View

Now that we can add a contact to the list, we will want to show all of the
contacts in the list. But before doing that, we need to remove the print
statement at the end of the script. The final two lines of code should look
like this:

contacts = Contacts()
contacts.display()

We are going to iterate through the list of contacts and print the first and
last name. To help users select a contact, a number will appear before
each name. This way, the user types the number, and the contact’s
information appears. In the else branch of the show_list method, iterate
through self.contact_list. However, we want the index and the value of
each element in the list. The index will be used for the number, and the
value will be used for the first and last names. Python has the enumerate
function which does exactly that.

Enumerate Function

Using enumerate, print the index plus 1 (the list should not start with 0), the
first_name, and the last_name for each element. After the loop runs, ask the
user if they want to select a name, add a new contact, or quit.
 def show_list(self):
print()
if len(self.contact_list) == 0:
self.choice = input('(A)dd a new contact \n(Q)uit \n> ').lower()

else:
for index, contact in enumerate(self.contact_list):
print(f"{index + 1}) {contact.first_name} {contact.last_name}")

self.choice = input('\n(#) Select a name \n(A)dd a new contact\n(Q)uit

self.handle_choice()

Handling Numeric Input

Add an elif branch to the handle_choice method that asks if the user input
is numeric (remember, the input command stores user input as a string)
and if the user is in the list view. If yes, then convert the user input to the
indexby converting the string to an integer and subtracting 1. Remember,
we added one to the index in the show_list method. If the user made a
mistake in entering the number, the script will crash if you try to access an
index that is outside of the list. So we need to verify that the number is
between 0 and the end of the list. Finally, set self.index to index and set
self.view to 'info'.

def handle_choice(self):
if self.choice == 'q':
self.view = 'quit'
elif self.choice == 'a' and self.view == 'list':
self.view = 'add'
elif self.choice.isnumeric() and self.view == 'list':
index = int(self.choice) - 1
if index >= 0 and index < len(self.contact_list):
self.index = index
self.view = 'info'
Testing Your Code
Before moving on to the next part of the script, we want to check that our
code is displaying all of the contacts in the list. To do that, enter two
different contacts. The first one is:
> John
> Calvin
> 555 111-2222
> [email protected]
> 555 333-4444
> [email protected]
> Philosopher

You should see a list that looks like this:

Contact 1

Now add a second contact to the list:

Thomas
Hobbes
555 666-7777
[email protected]
555 888-9999
[email protected]
Philosopher

Your script should now show the following output:

 Contact 2

Code

Your code should look like this:

class Contacts:
def __init__(self):
self.view = 'list'
self.contact_list = []
self.choice = None
self.index = None

def display(self):
while True:
if self.view == 'list':
self.show_list()
elif self.view == 'info':
self.show_info()
elif self.view == 'add':
print()
self.add_contact()
elif self.view == 'quit':
print('\nClosing the contact list...\n')
break

def show_list(self):
print()
if len(self.contact_list) == 0:
self.choice = input('(A)dd a new contact \n(Q)uit \n> ').lower()

else:
for index, contact in enumerate(self.contact_list):
print(f"{index + 1}) {contact.first_name} {contact.last_name
 self.choice = input('\n(#) Select a name \n(A)dd a new contact

self.handle_choice()

def show_info(self):
pass

def __add__(self, new_contact):

self.contact_list.append(new_contact)

def add_contact(self):
self + Information()
self.view = 'list'

def handle_choice(self):
if self.choice == 'q':
self.view = 'quit'
elif self.choice == 'a' and self.view == 'list':
self.view = 'add'
elif self.choice.isnumeric() and self.view == 'list':
index = int(self.choice) - 1
if index >= 0 and index < len(self.contact_list):
self.index = index
self.view = 'info'

class Information:
def __init__(self):
self.first_name = input('Enter their first name: ')
self.last_name = input('Enter their last name: ')
self.personal_phone = input('Enter their personal phone number: '

self.personal_email = input('Enter their personal email address: '

self.work_phone = input('Enter their work phone number: ')

self.work_email = input('Enter their work email address: ')
self.title = input('Enter their work title: ')

contacts = Contacts()
contacts.display()
Polymorphism Lab 4

Displaying Contact Info

The next step is to display the contact information for a selected contact.
On the last page, we already modified handle_choice to deal with numeric
input. So let’s update the show_info method to display the information. Go
to the appropriate element in self.contact_list and call the display_info
method. Then present the user with some options to return to the list view,
go to the next contact, go to the previous contact, or quit. Call the
handle_choice method to act on the user input.

def show_info(self):
self.contact_list[self.index].display_info()
self.choice = input('\n(C)ontact List \n(P)revious contact \n(N)ext contact

self.handle_choice()

Remember, the elements in self.contact_list are instances of the

Information class. So be sure that you are defining the display_info in the
Information class. This method prints out the information for the contact
with a little bit of context.

def display_info(self):
print(f'\n{self.first_name} {self.last_name}')
print(f'Personal phone number: {self.personal_phone}')
print(f'Personal email address: {self.personal_email}')
print(f'Work title: {self.title}')
print(f'Work phone number: {self.work_phone}')
print(f'Work email address: {self.work_email}')

Return to Contact List

We want the user to be able to list view of all contacts from the info view
when the user enters c. Modify the handle_choice method to set self.view
to 'list' when self.choice is c.

elif self.choice == 'c' and self.view == 'info':

self.view = 'list'

Next and Previous Contacts

The next feature to add is the ability to change contacts (next or previous)
from the info view. Moving the next contact should increase self.index by
1, and moving to the previous contact should decrease self.index by 1.
However, we need to make sure that the index is not out of the range of
list; this would cause the script to crash. To avoid this we are going to have
a “wrapping” effect. If the index is at the end of the list, advancing to the
next contact takes you back to the beginning. Similarly, going to the
previous contact from the beginning of the list will take you to the end of
the list.

To do this, we could write a traditional conditional. However, that is four

lines of code. Instead, you can use a ternary operator (also called a
conditional expression) to write the same logic in one line of code.

Ternary Operator

So when the user enters n the index will increase by 1 as long as the index
plus 1 is less than the length of the list. If not, the index becomes 0 (the
first contact). Similarly, when the user enters p, the index will decrease by
1 as long as the index minus 1 is greater than or equal to 0. If not, the
index becomes the length of the list minus 1 (the last contact). Add the
following conditional branches to the handle_choice method.
 elif self.choice == 'n' and self.view == 'info':
self.index = self.index + 1 if self.index + 1 < len(self.contact_list)

elif self.choice == 'p' and self.view == 'info':

self.index = self.index - 1 if self.index - 1 >= 0 else len(self.contact_list)

Testing Your Code

This script should be complete now. To test it, add at two contacts. Pull up
their information and use n and p to cycle through the contact
information. Enter c to return to the list view of all the contacts.

Code

Your code should look like this:

class Contacts:
def __init__(self):
self.view = 'list'
self.contact_list = []
self.choice = None
self.index = None

def display(self):
while True:
if self.view == 'list':
self.show_list()
elif self.view == 'info':
self.show_info()
elif self.view == 'add':
print()
self.add_contact()
elif self.view == 'quit':
print('\nClosing the contact list...\n')
break

def show_list(self):
print()
if len(self.contact_list) == 0:
 if len(self.contact_list) == 0:
self.choice = input('(A)dd a new contact \n(Q)uit \n> ').lower()

else:
for index, contact in enumerate(self.contact_list):
print(f"{index + 1}) {contact.first_name} {contact.last_name

self.choice = input('\n(#) Select a name \n(A)dd a new contact

self.handle_choice()

def show_info(self):
self.contact_list[self.index].display_info()
self.choice = input('\n(C)ontact List \n(P)revious contact \n(N)ext contact

self.handle_choice()

def __add__(self, new_contact):

self.contact_list.append(new_contact)

def add_contact(self):
self + Information()
self.view = 'list'

def handle_choice(self):
if self.choice == 'q':
self.view = 'quit'
elif self.choice == 'a' and self.view == 'list':
self.view = 'add'
elif self.choice.isnumeric() and self.view == 'list':
index = int(self.choice) - 1
if index >= 0 and index < len(self.contact_list):
self.index = index
self.view = 'info'
elif self.choice == 'c' and self.view == 'info':
self.view = 'list'
elif self.choice == 'n' and self.view == 'info':
self.index = self.index + 1 if self.index + 1 < len(self.contact_list)

elif self.choice == 'p' and self.view == 'info':

self.index = self.index - 1 if self.index - 1 >= 0 else len(self
class Information:
def __init__(self):
self.first_name = input('Enter their first name: ')
self.last_name = input('Enter their last name: ')
self.personal_phone = input('Enter their personal phone number: '

self.personal_email = input('Enter their personal email address: '

self.work_phone = input('Enter their work phone number: ')

self.work_email = input('Enter their work email address: ')
self.title = input('Enter their work title: ')

def display_info(self):
print(f'\n{self.first_name} {self.last_name}')
print(f'Personal phone number: {self.personal_phone}')
print(f'Personal email address: {self.personal_email}')
print(f'Work title: {self.title}')
print(f'Work phone number: {self.work_phone}')
print(f'Work email address: {self.work_email}')

contacts = Contacts()
contacts.display()
Polymorphism Lab Challenge

Problem

In the IDE to the left, the class Chef is already defined. Modify the compare
method so that it uses operator overloading to compare two chefs and
determine who has more Michelin stars. You can use either the > or <
operators for your overloading.

Expected Output

Instantiate the following Chef objects:

marco = Chef('Marco Pierre White', 'French, British', 3)

rene = Chef('Rene Redzepi', 'Nordic', 2)

Your script should return the proper output no matter the order of
comparison.

Method Call Return Value

‘Marco Pierre White has more
marco.compare(rene)
Michelin stars than Rene Redzepi’
‘Marco Pierre White has more
rene.compare(marco)
Michelin stars than Rene Redzepi’