What is class in python ?

• Class is a blueprint or prototype that bundling data and functionality together.
• class is used to define the new type. once defined, this new type can be used to create the objects of that type.
• Each class instance can have attributes attached to it for maintaining its state.
• Python’s class mechanism adds minimum of new syntax and semantics classes.

Class General Syntax:

class ClassName:
    statement - 1
    .
    .
    statement - N

Class Objects

• Class objects support two kinds of operations: attribute references and instantiation.
• Below Syntax is used for all attribute references in Python.

object_name.attribute_name

#!/usr/bin/pyhton                                                               
                                                                                
class TestClass:                                                                
    """Test Class"""                                                            
    variable1 = 100;                                                            
    def show_message(self):                                                     
        return "Welcom to python class!";      
                                 
# attribute references                                                                                
print TestClass.variable1;                                                      
print TestClass.show_message;                                                   
print TestClass.__doc__;      

Output:

$ python test_class.py
100
<unbound method TestClass.show_message>
Test Class

• Function notation is used for class instantiation in python.

  instance_name = TestClass()
  

  #!/usr/bin/pyhton                                                               
                                                                                  
  class TestClass:                                                                
      """Test Class"""                                                            
      variable1 = 100;                                                            
      def show_message(self):                                                     
          return "Welcome to python class!";                                      
                                                                                  
                                                                                  
  obj = TestClass();                                                              
  print obj.variable1;                                                            
  print obj.show_message();                                                       
  print obj.__doc__;     
  

  Output;

  $ python test_class.py
  100
  Welcome to python class!
  Test Class
  

  creates a new instance of the class and assigns this object to the local variable 'instance_name'.
• Instantiation operation (“calling” a class object) creates an empty object.

init method in python class

• class may define a special method named __init__() to create objects with instances customized to a specific initial state.

  def __init__(self):
      self.data = []
  

• class instantiation automatically invokes __init__() for the newly-created class instance.
• __init__() method may have arguments, arguments given to the class instantiation operator are passed on to __init__().

  #!/usr/bin/pyhton                                                               
                                                                                  
  class TestClass:                                                                
      """Test Class"""                                                            
      variable1 = 100;                                                            
      def __init__(self, msg):                                                    
          self.msg = msg;                                                         
                                                                                  
      def show_message(self):                                                     
          return self.msg;                                                        
                                                                                  
                                                                                  
  obj = TestClass("Welcome to python class!");                                    
  print obj.variable1;                                                            
  print obj.show_message();                                                       
  print obj.__doc__;     
  

  Output:

  $ python test_class.py
  100
  Welcome to python class!
  Test Class
  

• There are two kinds of valid attribute names: data attributes and methods.
  Data attributes correspond to “instance variables" and A method is a function that belongs to an object.

Method objects in python

#!/usr/bin/pyhton                                                               
                                                                                
class TestClass:                                                                
    """Test Class"""                                                            
    variable1 = 100;                                                            
    def __init__(self, msg):                                                    
        self.msg = msg;                                                         
                                                                                
    def show_message(self):                                                     
        return self.msg;                                                        
                                                                                
                                                                                
obj = TestClass("Welcome to python class!");                                    
sm = obj.show_message;                                                          
print sm();       

Welcome to python class!

Calling function with first argument as instance object

#!/usr/bin/pyhton                                                               
                                                                                
class TestClass:                                                                
    """Test Class"""                                                            
    variable1 = 100;                                                            
    def __init__(self, msg):                                                    
        self.msg = msg;                                                         
                                                                                
    def show_message(self):                                                     
        return self.msg;                                                                                                                                       
                                                                                
obj = TestClass("Welcome to python class!");                                    
print TestClass.show_message(obj);     

Class variables and instance variables

#!/usr/bin/pyhton                                                               
                                                                                
class TestClass:                                                                
    """Test Class"""                                                            
    variable1 = 100; # class variable                                           
    def __init__(self, msg):                                                    
        self.msg = msg; # instance variable                                     
                                                                                
                                                                                
obj = TestClass("Instance object1");                                            
obj1 = TestClass("Instance object2");                                           
                                                                                
print "obj1 - variable1: ", obj.variable1, " and msg: ", obj.msg;               
print "obj2 -  variable2: ", obj1.variable1, " and msg: ", obj1.msg;      

$ python test_class.py 
obj1 - variable1:  100  and msg:  Instance object1
obj2 -  variable2:  100  and msg:  Instance object2

Class variable holding all instances data

#!/usr/bin/pyhton                                                               
                                                                                
class TestClass:                                                                
    """Test Class"""                                                            
    instances = []; # class variable                                            
    def __init__(self, msg, ins):                                               
        self.msg = msg; # instance variable                                     
        self.instances.append(ins);                                             
                                                                                
                                                                                
obj = TestClass("Instance object1", "instance 1");                              
obj1 = TestClass("Instance object2", "instance 2");                             
print "obj1 - instances: ", obj.instances, " and msg: ", obj.msg;               
print "obj2 -  instances: ", obj1.instances, " and msg: ", obj1.msg;            

$ python test_class.py 
obj1 - instances:  ['instance 1', 'instance 2']  and msg:  Instance object1
obj2 -  instances:  ['instance 1', 'instance 2']  and msg:  Instance object2

Class methods - defined function outside the class

#!/usr/bin/pyhton                                                               
                                                                                
# Function defined outside the class                                            
def show_message(self):                                                         
    return self.msg;                                                            
                                                                                
class TestClass:                                                                
    """Test Class"""                                                            
    def __init__(self, msg):                                                    
        self.msg = msg;                                                         
                                                                                
    def get_length(self):                                                       
        return len(self.msg);                                                   
                                                                                
    sm = show_message                                                           
    gl = get_length                                                             
                                                                                
obj = TestClass("Instance object");                                             
obj1 = TestClass("Instance object 1");                                          
print "obj1 - msg length: ", obj.gl(), " and msg: ", obj.sm();                  
print "obj2 -  msg length: ", obj1.gl(), " and msg: ", obj1.sm();               

$ python test_class.py 
obj1 - msg length:  15  and msg:  Instance object
obj2 -  msg length:  17  and msg:  Instance object 1

Method may call another instance methods

#!/usr/bin/pyhton                                                               
                                                                                
class TestClass:                                                                
    """Test Class"""                                                            
    def __init__(self, msg):                                                    
        self.msg = msg;                                                         
                                                                                
    def get_length(self):                                                       
        return len(self.msg);                                                   
                                                                                
    def show_message(self):                                                     
        return self.msg + "length: " + str(self.get_length());                  
                                                                                
obj = TestClass("Instance object");                                             
obj1 = TestClass("Instance object 1");                                          
print "obj1 - msg: ", obj.show_message();                                       
print "obj2 - msg: ", obj1.show_message();                                      

$ python test_class.py 
obj1 - msg:  Instance objectlength: 15
obj2 - msg:  Instance object 1length: 17