OBJECT ORIENTED PROGRAMMING USING PYTHON

Python has been an object-oriented language since the time it existed. Due to this, creating
and using classes and objects are downright easy. This chapter helps you become an expert
in using Python's object-oriented programming support.

Overview of OOP Terminology

 Class − A user-defined prototype for an object that defines a set of attributes that
characterize any object of the class. The attributes are data members (class variables
and instance variables) and methods, accessed via dot notation.

 Class variable − A variable that is shared by all instances of a class. Class variables
are defined within a class but outside any of the class's methods. Class variables are
not used as frequently as instance variables are.

 Data member − A class variable or instance variable that holds data associated with
a class and its objects.

 Function overloading − The assignment of more than one behavior to a particular

function. The operation performed varies by the types of objects or arguments
involved.

 Instance variable − A variable that is defined inside a method and belongs only to
the current instance of a class.

 Inheritance − The transfer of the characteristics of a class to other classes that are
derived from it.

 Instance − An individual object of a certain class. An object obj that belongs to a class
Circle, for example, is an instance of the class Circle.

 Instantiation − The creation of an instance of a class.

 Method − A special kind of function that is defined in a class definition.

 Object − A unique instance of a data structure that is defined by its class. An object
comprises both data members (class variables and instance variables) and methods.

 Operator overloading − The assignment of more than one function to a particular

operator.

Creating Classes
The class statement creates a new class definition. The name of the class immediately
follows the keyword class followed by a colon as follows −

class ClassName:

'Optional class documentation string'

class_suite

 The class has a documentation string, which can be accessed via ClassName.__doc__.

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  The class_suite consists of all the component statements defining class members,
data attributes and functions.

Example
Following is an example of a simple Python class −

class Employee:

'Common base class for all employees'

empCount = 0

def __init__(self, name, salary):

self.name = name

self.salary = salary

Employee.empCount += 1

def displayCount(self):

print "Total Employee %d" % Employee.empCount

def displayEmployee(self):

print "Name : ", self.name, ", Salary: ", self.salary

 The variable empCount is a class variable whose value is shared among all the
instances of a in this class. This can be accessed as Employee.empCount from inside
the class or outside the class.

 The first method __init__() is a special method, which is called class constructor or
initialization method that Python calls when you create a new instance of this class.

 You declare other class methods like normal functions with the exception that the first
argument to each method is self. Python adds the self argument to the list for you; you
do not need to include it when you call the methods.

Creating Instance Objects

To create instances of a class, you call the class using class name and pass in whatever
arguments its __init__ method accepts.

This would create first object of Employee class

emp1 = Employee("Zara", 2000)

This would create second object of Employee class

emp2 = Employee("Manni", 5000)

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Accessing Attributes
You access the object's attributes using the dot operator with object. Class variable would be
accessed using class name as follows −

emp1.displayEmployee()

emp2.displayEmployee()

print ("Total Employee %d" % Employee.empCount)

Now, putting all the concepts together −

#!/usr/bin/python3

class Employee:

'Common base class for all employees'

empCount = 0

def __init__(self, name, salary):

self.name = name

self.salary = salary

Employee.empCount += 1

def displayCount(self):

print ("Total Employee %d" % Employee.empCount)

def displayEmployee(self):

print ("Name : ", self.name, ", Salary: ", self.salary)

#This would create first object of Employee class"

emp1 = Employee("Zara", 2000)

#This would create second object of Employee class"

emp2 = Employee("Manni", 5000)

emp1.displayEmployee()

emp2.displayEmployee()

print ("Total Employee %d" % Employee.empCount)

When the above code is executed, it produces the following result −

Name : Zara ,Salary: 2000

Name : Manni ,Salary: 5000
Total Employee 2
emp1.salary = 7000 # Add an 'salary' attribute.
emp1.name = 'xyz' # Modify 'age' attribute.
del emp1.salary # Delete 'age' attribute.

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Instead of using the normal statements to access attributes, you can use the following
functions

 The getattr(obj, name[, default]) − to access the attribute of object.

 The hasattr(obj,name) − to check if an attribute exists or not.

 The setattr(obj,name,value) − to set an attribute. If attribute does not exist, then it

would be created.

 The delattr(obj, name) − to delete an attribute.

hasattr(emp1, 'salary') # Returns true if 'salary' attribute exists

getattr(emp1, 'salary') # Returns value of 'salary' attribute

setattr(emp1, 'salary', 7000) # Set attribute 'salary' at 7000

delattr(emp1, 'salary') # Delete attribute 'salary'

Built-In Class Attributes

Every Python class keeps following built-in attributes and they can be accessed using dot
operator like any other attribute −

 __dict__ − Dictionary containing the class's namespace.

 __doc__ − Class documentation string or none, if undefined.

 __name__ − Class name.

 __module__ − Module name in which the class is defined. This attribute is "__main__"
in interactive mode.

 __bases__ − A possibly empty tuple containing the base classes, in the order of their
occurrence in the base class list.

For the above class let us try to access all these attributes −

#!/usr/bin/python3

class Employee:

'Common base class for all employees'

empCount = 0

def __init__(self, name, salary):

self.name = name

self.salary = salary

Employee.empCount += 1

def displayCount(self):

print ("Total Employee %d" % Employee.empCount)

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 def displayEmployee(self):

print ("Name : ", self.name, ", Salary: ", self.salary)

emp1 = Employee("Zara", 2000)

emp2 = Employee("Manni", 5000)

print ("Employee.__doc__:", Employee.__doc__)

print ("Employee.__name__:", Employee.__name__)

print ("Employee.__module__:", Employee.__module__)

print ("Employee.__bases__:", Employee.__bases__)

print ("Employee.__dict__:", Employee.__dict__ )

When the above code is executed, it produces the following result −

Employee.__doc__: Common base class for all employees

Employee.__name__: Employee
Employee.__module__: __main__
Employee.__bases__: (<class 'object'>,)
Employee.__dict__: {
'displayCount': <function Employee.displayCount at 0x0160D2B8>,
'__module__': '__main__', '__doc__': 'Common base class for all employees',
'empCount': 2, '__init__':
<function Employee.__init__ at 0x0124F810>, 'displayEmployee':
<function Employee.displayEmployee at 0x0160D300>,
'__weakref__':
<attribute '__weakref__' of 'Employee' objects>, '__dict__':
<attribute '__dict__' of 'Employee' objects>
}

Destroying Objects (Garbage Collection)

Python deletes unneeded objects (built-in types or class instances) automatically to free the
memory space. The process by which Python periodically reclaims blocks of memory that no
longer are in use is termed as Garbage Collection.

Python's garbage collector runs during program execution and is triggered when an object's
reference count reaches zero. An object's reference count changes as the number of aliases
that point to it changes.

An object's reference count increases when it is assigned a new name or placed in a

container (list, tuple, or dictionary). The object's reference count decreases when it is deleted
with del, its reference is reassigned, or its reference goes out of scope. When an object's
reference count reaches zero, Python collects it automatically.

a = 40 # Create object <40>

b=a # Increase ref. count of <40>

c = [b] # Increase ref. count of <40>

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del a # Decrease ref. count of <40>

b = 100 # Decrease ref. count of <40>

c[0] = -1 # Decrease ref. count of <40>

You normally will not notice when the garbage collector destroys an orphaned instance and
reclaims its space. However, a class can implement the special method __del__(), called a
destructor, that is invoked when the instance is about to be destroyed. This method might be
used to clean up any non-memory resources used by an instance.

Example
This __del__() destructor prints the class name of an instance that is about to be destroyed −

#!/usr/bin/python3

class Point:

def __init__( self, x=0, y=0):

self.x = x

self.y = y

def __del__(self):

class_name = self.__class__.__name__

print (class_name, "destroyed")

pt1 = Point()

pt2 = pt1

pt3 = pt1

print (id(pt1), id(pt2), id(pt3)); # prints the ids of the obejcts

del pt1

del pt2

del pt3

When the above code is executed, it produces the following result −

3083401324 3083401324 3083401324

Point destroyed

Note − Ideally, you should define your classes in a separate file, then you should import
them in your main program file using import statement.

In the above example, assuming definition of a Point class is contained in point.py and there
is no other executable code in it.

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#!/usr/bin/python3

import point

p1 = point.Point()

Class Inheritance
Instead of starting from a scratch, you can create a class by deriving it from a pre-existing
class by listing the parent class in parentheses after the new class name.

The child class inherits the attributes of its parent class, and you can use those attributes as
if they were defined in the child class. A child class can also override data members and
methods from the parent.

Syntax
Derived classes are declared much like their parent class; however, a list of base classes to
inherit from is given after the class name −

class SubClassName (ParentClass1[, ParentClass2, ...]):

'Optional class documentation string'

class_suite

Example

#!/usr/bin/python3

class Parent: # define parent class

parentAttr = 100

def __init__(self):

print ("Calling parent constructor")

def parentMethod(self):

print ('Calling parent method')

def setAttr(self, attr):

Parent.parentAttr = attr

def getAttr(self):

print ("Parent attribute :", Parent.parentAttr)

class Child(Parent): # define child class

def __init__(self):

print ("Calling child constructor")

def childMethod(self):

print ('Calling child method')

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c = Child() # instance of child

c.childMethod() # child calls its method

c.parentMethod() # calls parent's method

c.setAttr(200) # again call parent's method

c.getAttr() # again call parent's method

When the above code is executed, it produces the following result −

Calling child constructor

Calling child method
Calling parent method
Parent attribute : 200

In a similar way, you can drive a class from multiple parent classes as follows −

class A: # define your class A

.....

class B: # define your calss B

.....

class C(A, B): # subclass of A and B

.....

You can use issubclass() or isinstance() functions to check a relationships of two classes and
instances.

 The issubclass(sub, sup) boolean function returns True, if the given subclass sub is
indeed a subclass of the superclass sup.

 The isinstance(obj, Class) boolean function returns True, if obj is an instance of

class Class or is an instance of a subclass of Class

Overriding Methods
You can always override your parent class methods. One reason for overriding parent's
methods is that you may want special or different functionality in your subclass.

Example

#!/usr/bin/python3

class Parent: # define parent class

def myMethod(self):

print ('Calling parent method')

class Child(Parent): # define child class

def myMethod(self):

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 print ('Calling child method')

c = Child() # instance of child

c.myMethod() # child calls overridden method

When the above code is executed, it produces the following result −

Calling child method

Base Overloading Methods

The following table lists some generic functionality that you can override in your own classes
−

S.No Method, Description & Sample Call

.

__init__ ( self [,args...] )

1 Constructor (with any optional

arguments)

Sample Call : obj = className(args)

__del__( self )

2 Destructor, deletes an object

Sample Call : del obj

__repr__( self )

3 Evaluatable string representation

Sample Call : repr(obj)

__str__( self )

4 Printable string representation

Sample Call : str(obj)

__cmp__ ( self, x )

5 Object comparison

Sample Call : cmp(obj, x)

Overloading Operators

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Suppose you have created a Vector class to represent two-dimensional vectors. What
happens when you use the plus operator to add them? Most likely Python will yell at you.

You could, however, define the __add__ method in your class to perform vector addition and
then the plus operator would behave as per expectation −

Example
#!/usr/bin/python3
class Vector:
def __init__(self, a, b):
self.a = a
self.b = b
def __str__(self):
return 'Vector (%d, %d)' % (self.a, self.b)
def __add__(self,other):
return Vector(self.a + other.a, self.b + other.b)
v1 = Vector(2,10)
v2 = Vector(5,-2)
print (v1 + v2)

When the above code is executed, it produces the following result −

Vector(7,8)

Data Hiding
An object's attributes may or may not be visible outside the class definition. You need to
name attributes with a double underscore prefix, and those attributes then will not be
directly visible to outsiders.

Example
#!/usr/bin/python3
class JustCounter:
__secretCount = 0
def count(self):
self.__secretCount += 1
print (self.__secretCount)
counter = JustCounter()
counter.count()
counter.count()
print (counter.__secretCount)

When the above code is executed, it produces the following result −

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Traceback (most recent call last):
File "test.py", line 12, in <module>
print counter.__secretCount
AttributeError: JustCounter instance has no attribute '__secretCount'

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