LECTURE 6 Advanced Functions

and OOP
FUNCTIONS
Before we start, let’s talk about how name resolution is done in Python: When a function
executes, a new namespace is created (locals). New namespaces can also be created by
modules, classes, and methods as well.
LEGB Rule: How Python resolves names.
• Local namespace.
• Enclosing namespaces: check nonlocal names in the local scope of any enclosing functions
from inner to outer.
• Global namespace: check names assigned at the top-level of a module file, or declared global
in a def within the file.
• __builtins__: Names python assigned in the built-in module.
• If all fails: NameError.
FUNCTIONS AS FIRST-CLASS
OBJECTS
We noted a few lectures ago that functions are first-class objects in Python. What
exactly does this mean?
In short, it basically means that whatever you can do with a variable, you can do
with a function. These include:
• Assigning a name to it.
• Passing it as an argument to a function.
• Returning it as the result of a function.
• Storing it in data structures.
• etc.
FUNCTION FACTORY
a.k.a. Closures. def make_inc(x):
def inc(y):
As first-class objects, you can wrap
# x is closed in
functions within functions.
# the definition of inc
Outer functions have free variables that return x + y
are bound to inner functions. return inc
A closure is a function object that inc5 = make_inc(5)
remembers values in enclosing scopes inc10 = make_inc(10)
regardless of whether those scopes are
still present in memory. print(inc5(5)) # returns 10
print(inc10(5)) # returns 15
CLOSURE
Closures are hard to define so follow these three rules for generating a closure:
1. We must have a nested function (function inside a function).
2. The nested function must refer to a value defined in the enclosing function.
3. The enclosing function must return the nested function.
DECORATORS
Wrappers to existing functions. def say_hello(name):
return "Hello, " + str(name) + "!"
You can extend the functionality
of existing functions without def p_decorate(func):
having to modify them. def func_wrapper(name):
return "<p>" + func(name) + "</p>"
return func_wrapper

my_say_hello = p_decorate(say_hello)
print my_say_hello("John")
# Output is: <p>Hello, John!</p>
DECORATORS
Wrappers to existing functions. def say_hello(name):
return "Hello, " + str(name) + "!"
You can extend the functionality
of existing functions without def p_decorate(func):
having to modify them. def func_wrapper(name):
return "<p>" + func(name) + "</p>"
return func_wrapper

my_say_hello = p_decorate(say_hello)
Closure print my_say_hello("John")
# Output is: <p>Hello, John!</p>
DECORATORS
So what kinds of things can we use decorators for?
• Timing the execution of an arbitrary function.
• Memoization – cacheing results for specific arguments.
• Logging purposes.
• Debugging.
• Any pre- or post- function processing.
 DECORATORS
Python allows us some nice def say_hello(name):
syntactic sugar for creating return "Hello, " + str(name) + "!"
decorators.
def p_decorate(func):
def func_wrapper(name):
return "<p>" + func(name) + "</p>"

return func_wrapper

my_say_hello = p_decorate(say_hello)
Notice here how we have to explicitly
print my_say_hello("John")
decorate say_hello by passing it to
our decorator function. # Output is: <p>Hello, John!</p>
DECORATORS
def p_decorate(func):
Python allows us some nice def func_wrapper(name):
syntactic sugar for creating return "<p>" + func(name) + "</p>"
decorators. return func_wrapper

@p_decorate
def say_hello(name):
Some nice syntax that return "Hello, " + str(name) + "!"
does the same thing,
except this time I can print say_hello("John")
use # Output is: <p>Hello, John!</p>
say_hello instead of
assigning a new name.
DECORATORS
You can also stack decorators with the closest decorator to the function definition
being applied first.

@div_decorate
@p_decorate
@strong_decorate
def say_hello(name):
return “Hello, ” + str(name) + “!”

print say_hello("John")
# Outputs <div><p><strong>Hello, John!</strong></p></div>
DECORATORS
We can also pass arguments to decorators if we’d like.
def tags(tag_name):
def tags_decorator(func):
def func_wrapper(name):
return "<"+tag_name+">"+func(name)+"</"+tag_name+">"
return func_wrapper
return tags_decorator

@tags("p")
def say_hello(name):
return "Hello, " + str(name) + "!"

print say_hello("John") # Output is: <p>Hello, John!</p>

DECORATORS
We can also pass arguments to decorators if we’d like.
def tags(tag_name):
def tags_decorator(func):
def func_wrapper(name):
return "<"+tag_name+">"+func(name)+"</"+tag_name+">"
return func_wrapper
return tags_decorator
Closure!
@tags("p")
def say_hello(name):
return "Hello, " + str(name) + "!"

print say_hello("John")
DECORATORS
We can also pass arguments to decorators if we’d like.
def tags(tag_name):
def tags_decorator(func):
def func_wrapper(name):
return "<"+tag_name+">"+func(name)+"</"+tag_name+">"
return func_wrapper
return tags_decorator

@tags("p") More Closure!

def say_hello(name):
return "Hello, " + str(name) + "!"

print say_hello("John")
ACCEPTS EXAMPLE
Let’s say we wanted to create a general purpose decorator for the common operation
of checking validity of function argument types.
import math
def complex_magnitude(z):
return math.sqrt(z.real**2 + z.imag**2)

>>> complex_magnitude("hello")
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
File "accepts_test.py", line 4, in complex_magnitude
return math.sqrt(z.real**2 + z.imag**2)
AttributeError: 'str' object has no attribute 'real'
>>> complex_magnitude(1+2j)
2.23606797749979
 ACCEPTS EXAMPLE

def accepts(*arg_types):
def arg_check(func):
def new_func(*args):
for arg, arg_type in zip(args,arg_types):
if type(arg) != arg_type:
print "Argument", arg, "is not of type", arg_type
break
else:
func(*args)
return new_func
return arg_check

Check out accepts_test.py!

OOP IN PYTHON
Python is a multi-paradigm language and, as such, supports OOP as well as a variety
of other paradigms.

If you are familiar with OOP in C++, for example, it should be very easy for you to
pick up the ideas behind Python’s class structures.
CLASS DEFINITION
Classes are defined using the class keyword with a very familiar structure:

class ClassName:
<statement-1>
. . .
<statement-N>

There is no notion of a header file to include so we don’t need to break up the

creation of a class into declaration and definition. We just declare and use it!
CLASS OBJECTS
Let’s say I have a simple class which does not much of anything at all.

class MyClass:
""""A simple example class docstring"""
i = 12345
def f(self):
return 'hello world'

I can create a new instance of MyClass using the familiar function notation.

x = MyClass()
CLASS OBJECTS
I can access the attributes and methods of my object in the following way:
>>> num = x.i
>>> x.f()
We can define the special method __init__() which is automatically invoked
for new instances (constructor).
class MyClass:
"""A simple example class"""
i = 12345
def __init__(self):
print "I just created a MyClass object!"
def f(self):
return 'hello world'
CLASS OBJECTS
Now, when I instantiate a MyClass object, the following happens:
>>> y = MyClass()
I just created a MyClass object!

We can also pass arguments to our __init__ function:

>>> class Complex:
... def __init__(self, realpart, imagpart):
... self.r = realpart
... self.i = imagpart
>>> x = Complex(3.0, -4.5)
>>> x.r, x.i
(3.0, -4.5)
DATA ATTRIBUTES
Like local variables in Python, there is no need for a data attribute to be declared
before use.

>>> class Complex:

... def __init__(self, realpart, imagpart):
... self.r = realpart
... self.i = imagpart
>>> x = Complex(3.0, -4.5)
>>> x.r, x.i
(3.0, -4.5)
>>> x.r_squared = x.r**2
>>> x.r_squared
9.0
DATA ATTRIBUTES
We can add, modify, or delete attributes at will.
x.year = 2014 # Add an ‘year' attribute.
x.year = 2015 # Modify ‘year' attribute.
del x.year # Delete ‘year' attribute.

There are also some built-in functions we can use to accomplish the same tasks.

hasattr(x, 'year') # Returns true if year attribute exists

getattr(x, 'year') # Returns value of year attribute
setattr(x, 'year', 2015) # Set attribute year to 2015
delattr(x, 'year') # Delete attribute year
VARIABLES WITHIN CLASSES
>>> class Dog:
Generally speaking, variables ... kind = 'canine' # class var
in a class fall under one of two ... def __init__(self, name):
categories: ... self.name = name # instance var
• Class variables, which are shared by
>>> d = Dog('Fido')
all instances.
>>> e = Dog('Buddy')
• Instance variables, which are unique
to a specific instance. >>> d.kind # shared by all dogs
'canine'
>>> e.kind # shared by all dogs
'canine'
>>> d.name # unique to d
'Fido'
>>> e.name # unique to e
'Buddy'
VARIABLES WITHIN CLASSES
Be careful when using mutable >>> class Dog:
objects as class variables. >>> tricks = [] # mutable class variable

>>> def __init__(self, name):

>>> self.name = name
>>> def add_trick(self, trick):
>>> self.tricks.append(trick)
>>> d = Dog('Fido')
>>> e = Dog('Buddy')
>>> d.add_trick('roll over')
>>> e.add_trick('play dead')
>>> d.tricks # unexpectedly shared by all
['roll over', 'play dead']
VARIABLES WITHIN CLASSES
>>> class Dog:
To fix this issue, make it an >>> def __init__(self, name):
instance variable instead. >>> self.name = name
>>> self.tricks = []
>>> def add_trick(self, trick):
>>> self.tricks.append(trick)
>>> d = Dog('Fido')
>>> e = Dog('Buddy')
>>> d.add_trick('roll over')
>>> e.add_trick('play dead')
>>> d.tricks
['roll over']
>>> e.tricks
['play dead']
BUILT-IN ATTRIBUTES
Besides the class and instance attributes, every class has access to the following:
• __dict__: dictionary containing the object’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.
 METHODS
We can call a method of a class object using the familiar function call notation.
>>> x = MyClass()
>>> x.f()
'hello world'
Perhaps you noticed, however, that the definition of MyClass.f() involves an
argument called self.
class MyClass:
"""A simple example class"""
i = 12345
Calling x.f() is equivalent
def __init__(self):
to calling MyClass.f(x). print "I just created a MyClass object!"
def f(self):
return 'hello world'
FRACTION EXAMPLE
Check out Bob Myers’ simple fraction class here.
Let’s check out an equivalent simple class in Python (frac.py).
FRACTION EXAMPLE
>>> import frac
>>> f1 = frac.Fraction()
>>> f2 = frac.Fraction(3,5)
>>> f1.get_numerator()
0
>>> f1.get_denominator()
1
>>> f2.get_numerator()
3
>>> f2.get_denominator()
5
FRACTION EXAMPLE
>>> f2.evaluate()
0.6
>>> f1.set_value(2,7)
>>> f1.evaluate()
0.2857142857142857
>>> f1.show()
2/7
>>> f2.show()
3/5
>>> f2.input()
2/3
>>> f2.show()
2/3
PET EXAMPLE
Here is a simple class that defines a Pet object.

class Pet:
def __init__(self, name, age):
self.name = name
self.age = age The __str__ built-in function
def get_name(self): defines what happens when I
return self.name print an instance of Pet. Here I’m
def get_age(self): overriding it to print the name.
return self.age
def __str__(self):
return "This pet’s name is " + str(self.name)
PET EXAMPLE
>>> from pet import Pet
>>> mypet = Pet('Ben', '1')
>>> print mypet
Here is a simple class that defines a Pet object.
This pet's name is Ben
>>> mypet.get_name()
class Pet: 'Ben'
def __init__(self, name, age): >>> mypet.get_age()
self.name = name 1
self.age = age
def get_name(self):
return self.name
def get_age(self):
return self.age
def __str__(self):
return "This pet’s name is " + str(self.name)
INHERITANCE
Now, let’s say I want to create a Dog class which inherits from Pet. The basic format
of a derived class is as follows:

class DerivedClassName(BaseClassName):

<statement-1>
...
<statement-N>

In the case of BaseClass being defined elsewhere, you can use

module_name.BaseClassName.
INHERITANCE
Here is an example definition of a Dog class which inherits from Pet.

class Dog(Pet):
pass

The pass statement is only included here for syntax reasons. This class definition for
Dog essentially makes Dog an alias for Pet.
INHERITANCE
We’ve inherited all the functionality of our Pet class, now let’s make the Dog class
more interesting.

>>> from dog import Dog class Dog(Pet):

>>> mydog = Dog('Ben', 1) pass
>>> print mydog
This pet's name is Ben
>>> mydog.get_name()
'Ben'
>>> mydog.get_age()
1
INHERITANCE
For my Dog class, I want all of the functionality of the Pet class with one extra
attribute: breed. I also want some extra methods for accessing this attribute.

class Dog(Pet):
def __init__(self, name, age, breed):
Pet.__init__(self, name, age)
self.breed = breed
def get_breed(self):
return self.breed
INHERITANCE
For my Dog class, I want all of the functionality of the Pet class with one extra
attribute: breed. I also want some extra methods for accessing this attribute.

class Dog(Pet):
Overriding initialization function
def __init__(self, name, age, breed):
Pet.__init__(self, name, age)
self.breed = breed
def get_breed(self):
return self.breed
Python resolves attribute and method references by first
searching the derived class and then searching the base
class.
INHERITANCE
For my Dog class, I want all of the functionality of the Pet class with one extra
attribute: breed. I also want some extra methods for accessing this attribute.

class Dog(Pet):
def __init__(self, name, age, breed):
Pet.__init__(self, name, age)
self.breed = breed self.name = name
def get_breed(self): self.age = age
return self.breed

We can call base class methods directly using BaseClassName.method(self,

arguments). Note that we do this here to extend the functionality of Pet’s
initialization method.
 INHERITANCE
>>> from dog import Dog
>>> mydog = Dog('Ben', 1, 'Maltese')
>>> print mydog
This pet's name is Ben
>>> mydog.get_age()
1
>>> mydog.get_breed()
class Dog(Pet):
'Maltese'
def __init__(self, name, age, breed):
Pet.__init__(self, name, age)
self.breed = breed
def get_breed(self):
return self.breed
INHERITANCE
Python has two notable built-in functions: >>> from pet import Pet
• isinstance(object, classinfo) >>> from dog import Dog
>>> mydog = Dog('Ben', 1, 'Maltese')
returns true if object is an instance of
classinfo (or some class derived from
classinfo). >>> isinstance(mydog, Dog)
True
• issubclass(class, classinfo) >>> isinstance(mydog, Pet)
returns true if class is a subclass of True
classinfo. >>> issubclass(Dog, Pet)
True
>>> issubclass(Pet, Dog)
False
MULTIPLE INHERITANCE
You can derive a class from multiple base classes like so:

class DerivedClassName(Base1, Base2, Base3):

<statement-1>
...
<statement-N>

Attribute resolution is performed by searching DerivedClassName, then Base1, then

Base2, etc.
PRIVATE VARIABLES
There is no strict notion of a private attribute in Python.
However, if an attribute is prefixed with a single underscore (e.g. _name), then it
should be treated as private. Basically, using it should be considered bad form as it is
an implementation detail.
To avoid complications that arise from overriding attributes, Python does perform
name mangling. Any attribute prefixed with two underscores (e.g. __name) and no
more than one trailing underscore is automatically replaced with
_classname__name.
Bottom line: if you want others developers to treat it as private, use the appropriate
prefix.
NAME MANGLING
class Mapping: What’s the problem here?
def __init__(self, iterable):
self.items_list = []
self.update(iterable)
def update(self, iterable):
for item in iterable:
self.items_list.append(item)

class MappingSubclass(Mapping):
def update(self, keys, values):
for item in zip(keys, values):
self.items_list.append(item)
NAME MANGLING
class Mapping: What’s the problem here?
def __init__(self, iterable):
self.items_list = [] The update method of Mapping accepts
self.update(iterable) one iterable object as an argument.
def update(self, iterable):
for item in iterable: The update method of MappingSubclass,
self.items_list.append(item) however, accepts keys and values as
arguments.
class MappingSubclass(Mapping):
def update(self, keys, values): Because MappingSubclass is derived
for item in zip(keys, values): from Mapping and we haven’t overrided
self.items_list.append(item) the __init__ method, we will have an
error when the __init__ method calls update
with a single argument.
NAME MANGLING
To be clearer, because MappingSubclass inherits
from Mapping but does not provide a definition
class Mapping:
for __init__, we implicitly have the following
def __init__(self, iterable):
__init__ method.
self.items_list = []
self.update(iterable)
def update(self, iterable):
for item in iterable:
self.items_list.append(item)
def __init__(self, iterable):
class MappingSubclass(Mapping):
def update(self, keys, values): self.items_list = []
for item in zip(keys, values): self.update(iterable)
self.items_list.append(item)
NAME MANGLING
This __init__ method references an update
method. Python will simply look for the most
class Mapping:
local definition of update here.
def __init__(self, iterable):
self.items_list = []
self.update(iterable)
def update(self, iterable):
for item in iterable:
self.items_list.append(item)
def __init__(self, iterable):
class MappingSubclass(Mapping):
def update(self, keys, values): self.items_list = []
for item in zip(keys, values): self.update(iterable)
self.items_list.append(item)
NAME MANGLING
The signatures of the update call and the update
definition do not match. The __init__ method
class Mapping:
depends on a certain implementation of update
def __init__(self, iterable):
being available. Namely, the update defined in
self.items_list = []
Mapping.
self.update(iterable)
def update(self, iterable):
for item in iterable:
self.items_list.append(item)
def __init__(self, iterable):
class MappingSubclass(Mapping):
def update(self, keys, values): self.items_list = []
for item in zip(keys, values): self.update(iterable)
self.items_list.append(item)
NAME MANGLING

>>> import map

>>> x = map.MappingSubclass([1, 2, 3])
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
File "map.py", line 4, in __init__
self.update(iterable)
TypeError: update() takes exactly 3 arguments (2 given)
 NAME MANGLING
class Mapping:
def __init__(self, iterable):
self.items_list = []
self.__update(iterable)
def update(self, iterable):
for item in iterable:
self.items_list.append(item)
__update = update # private copy of original update() method

class MappingSubclass(Mapping):
def update(self, keys, values):
# provides new signature for update()
# but does not break __init__()
for item in zip(keys, values):
self.items_list.append(item)
NAME MANGLING

>>> import map

>>> x = map.MappingSubclass([1,2,3])
>>> x.items_list
[1, 2, 3]
>>> x.update(['key1', 'key2'], ['val1', 'val2'])
>>> x.items_list
[1, 2, 3, ('key1', 'val1'), ('key2', 'val2')]
STRUCTS IN PYTHON
You can create a struct-like object by using an empty class.
>>> class Struct:
... pass
...
>>> node = Struct()
>>> node.label = 4
>>> node.data = "My data string"
>>> node.next = Struct()
>>> next_node = node.next
>>> next_node.label = 5
>>> print node.next.label
5
EMULATING METHODS
You can create custom classes that emulate methods that have significant meaning
when combined with other Python objects.
The statement print >> typically prints to the file-like object that follows.
Specifically, the file-like object needs a write() method. This means I can make any
class which, as long as it has a write() method, is a valid argument for this print
statement.
>>> class Random:
... def write(self, str_in):
... print "The string to write is: " + str(str_in)
>>> someobj = Random()
>>> print >> someobj, "whatever"
The string to write is: whatever
CUSTOM EXCEPTIONS
We mentioned in previous lectures that exceptions can also be custom-made. This is
done by creating a class which is derived from the Exception base class.
class MyException(Exception):
def __init__(self, value):
self.parameter = value
def __str__(self):
>>> from myexcept import MyException return self.parameter
>>> try:
... raise MyException("My custom error message.")
... except MyException as e:
... print "Error: " + str(e)
...
Error: My custom error message.
ITERABLES, ITERATORS, AND
GENERATORS
Before we move on to the standard library (in particular, the itertools module), let’s
make sure we understand iterables, iterators, and generators.
An iterable is any Python object with the following properties:
• It can be looped over (e.g. lists, strings, files, etc).
• Can be used as an argument to iter(), which returns an iterator.
• Must define __iter__() (or __getitem__()).
ITERABLES, ITERATORS, AND
GENERATORS
Before we move on to the standard library (in particular, the itertools module), let’s
make sure we understand iterables, iterators, and generators.
An iterator is a Python object with the following properties:
• Must define __iter__() to return itself.
• Must define the next() method to return the next value every time it is invoked.
• Must track the “position” over the container of which it is an iterator.
ITERABLES, ITERATORS, AND
GENERATORS
A common iterable is the list. Lists, however, are not iterators. They are simply
Python objects for which iterators may be created.
>>> a = [1, 2, 3, 4]
>>> # a list is iterable - it has the __iter__ method
>>> a.__iter__
<method-wrapper '__iter__' of list object at 0x014E5D78>
>>> # a list doesn’t have the next method, so it's not an iterator
>>> a.next
AttributeError: 'list' object has no attribute 'next'
>>> # a list is not its own iterator
>>> iter(a) is a
False
ITERABLES, ITERATORS, AND
GENERATORS
The listiterator object is the iterator object associated with a list. The iterator version
of a listiterator object is itself, since it is already an iterator.

>>> # iterator for a list is actually a 'listiterator' object

>>> ia = iter(a)
>>> ia
<listiterator object at 0x014DF2F0>
>>> # a listiterator object is its own iterator
>>> iter(ia) is ia
True
ITERATORS
How does this magic work? for item in [1, 2, 3, 4]:
print item
ITERATORS
How does this magic work? >>> mylist = [1, 2, 3, 4]
>>> it = iter(mylist)
>>> it
The for statement calls the <listiterator object at 0x2af6add16090>
iter() function on the sequence >>> it.next()
object. The iter() call will 1
return an iterator object (as >>> it.next()
long as the argument has a 2
built-in __iter__ function) >>> it.next()
which defines next() for 3
accessing the elements one at a >>> it.next()
time.
4
Let’s do it manually: >>> it.next() # Raises StopIteration Exception
ITERABLES, ITERATORS, AND
GENERATORS

>>> mylist = [1, 2, 3, 4] >>> mylist = [1, 2, 3, 4]

>>> i = iter(mylist) # i = mylist.__iter__()
>>> for item in mylist:
... print item >>> print i.next()
1
>>> print i.next()
2
Is equivalent to >>> print i.next()
3
>>> print i.next()
4
>>> print i.next()
# StopIteration Exception Raised
ITERATORS
Let’s create a custom iterable object.
class Even:
def __init__(self, data):
self.data = data
self.index = 0
def __iter__(self):
return self
def next(self):
if self.index >= len(self.data):
raise StopIteration
ret = self.data[self.index]
self.index = self.index + 2
return ret
ITERATORS
Let’s create a custom iterable object.

>> from even import Even

>>> evenlist = Even(range(0,10))
>>> iter(evenlist)
<even.Even instance at 0x2ad24d84a128>
>>> for item in evenlist:
... print item
...
0
2
4
6
8
ITERABLES, ITERATORS, AND
GENERATORS
Generators are a way of defining iterators using a simple function notation.

Generators use the yield statement to return results when they are ready, but
Python will remember the context of the generator when this happens.

Even though generators are not technically iterator objects, they can be used
wherever iterators are used.
Generators are desirable because they are lazy: they do no work until the first value
is requested, and they only do enough work to produce that value. As a result, they
use fewer resources, and are usable on more kinds of iterables.
GENERATORS
An easy way to create “iterators”. Use the yield statement whenever data is
returned. The generator will pick up where it left off when next() is called.
def even(data):
for i in range(0, len(data), 2):
yield data[i]

>>> for elem in even(range(0,10)):

... print elem
...
0
2
4
6
8
ITERABLES, ITERATORS, AND
GENERATORS
def count_generator(): >>> counter = count_generator()
>>> counter
n = 0 <generator object count_generator at 0x…>
while True:
yield n >>> next(counter)
n = n + 1 0
>>> next(counter)
1
>>> iter(counter)
<generator object count_generator at 0x…>

>>> iter(counter) is counter

True
>>> type(counter)
<type 'generator'>
ITERABLES, ITERATORS, AND
GENERATORS
There are also generator comprehensions, which are very similar to list
comprehensions.
>>> l1 = [x**2 for x in range(10)] # list
>>> g1 = (x**2 for x in range(10)) # gen

Equivalent to:

def gen(exp):
for x in exp:
yield x**2

g1 = gen(iter(range(10)))