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python classes

Classes in Python bundle data and functionality, allowing for the creation of new object types and instances with attributes and methods. Python's class mechanism combines features from C++ and Modula-3, supporting object-oriented programming principles like inheritance and method overriding. Unlike C++ and Modula-3, Python allows built-in types to be extended and enables dynamic class creation and modification at runtime.

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4 views

python classes

Classes in Python bundle data and functionality, allowing for the creation of new object types and instances with attributes and methods. Python's class mechanism combines features from C++ and Modula-3, supporting object-oriented programming principles like inheritance and method overriding. Unlike C++ and Modula-3, Python allows built-in types to be extended and enables dynamic class creation and modification at runtime.

Uploaded by

mdhasan.ansari
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Classes

Classes provide a means of bundling data and functionality together. Creating a new class cre-
ates a new type of object, allowing new instances of that type to be made. Each class instance
can have attributes attached to it for maintaining its state. Class instances can also have meth-
ods (defined by its class) for modifying its state.

Compared with other programming languages, Python’s class mechanism adds classes with a
minimum of new syntax and semantics. It is a mixture of the class mechanisms found in C++
and Modula-3. Python classes provide all the standard features of Object Oriented Programming:
the class inheritance mechanism allows multiple base classes, a derived class can override any
methods of its base class or classes, and a method can call the method of a base class with the
same name. Objects can contain arbitrary amounts and kinds of data. As is true for modules,
classes partake of the dynamic nature of Python: they are created at runtime, and can be modi-
fied further after creation.

In C++ terminology, normally class members (including the data members) are public (except
see below Private Variables), and all member functions are virtual. As in Modula-3, there are no
shorthands for referencing the object’s members from its methods: the method function is de-
clared with an explicit first argument representing the object, which is provided implicitly by the
call. As in Smalltalk, classes themselves are objects. This provides semantics for importing and
renaming. Unlike C++ and Modula-3, built-in types can be used as base classes for extension by
the user. Also, like in C++, most built-in operators with special syntax (arithmetic operators,
subscripting etc.) can be redefined for class instances.

(Lacking universally accepted terminology to talk about classes, I will make occasional use of
Smalltalk and C++ terms. I would use Modula-3 terms, since its object-oriented semantics are
closer to those of Python than C++, but I expect that few readers have heard of it.)

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