Oct 5, 2021
Class And Instance Attributes
What is Object Oriented Programming (OOP):
Object Oriented Programming is not a programming language, but rather a model in which programs are organized around data or objects. OOP uses the concept of objects and classes.
For instance, an object could represent a person with properties like a name, age, and address and behaviors such as walking, talking, breathing, and running. Or it could represent an email with properties like a recipient list, subject, and body and behaviors like adding attachments and sending
Instance Attribute:
are attributes or properties attached to an instance of a class. Instance attributes are defined in the constructor.
For example:
foo = MyClass(2)
foo.class_var
## 1
foo.class_var = 2
foo.class_var
## 2
MyClass.class_var
## 1Class Attribute:
are the variables defined directly in the class that are shared by all objects of the class.
For example:
foo = MyClass(2)
foo.class_var
## 1
MyClass.class_var = 2
foo.class_var
## 2Differences Between Class and Instance Attributes:
The difference is that class attributes is shared by all instances. When you change the value of a class attribute, it will affect all instances that share the same exact value. The attribute of an instance on the other hand is unique to that instance.
What are the advantages and drawbacks of each of them:
How does Python deal with the object and class attributes using the __dict__:
A __dict__ is a dictionary or maping objet used to store an object’s attributes. How does Python deal with the object and class attributes using the __dict__ ? Well, each instance is stored in a dictonary.
In conclusion:
Class attributes seem to be underused in Python; a lot of programmers have different impressions of how they work and why they might be helpful.
My take: Python class variables have their place within the school of good code. When used with care, they can simplify things and improve readability. But when carelessly thrown into a given class, they’re sure to trip you up.
