Objects
What is an Object?
In Python, as in other Object-Oriented Programming languages, an object is an instance of a class. It’s a tangible entity that combines both data (in the form of properties or attributes) and behaviors (methods).
Defining an Object
To derive an object, a class must first be defined using the class
keyword.
This Dog
class doesn’t have any attributes or methods. To create an object of class Dog
, you would instantiate like this:
In this scenario, rover
is an object (or instance) of the Dog
class.
Object Attributes and Methods
Objects have attributes and methods. While attributes are essentially variables within the class, methods are functions that define how an object can interact with its attributes.
In this example, name
and age
are attributes. The bark
function is a method of the Dog
class. The self.name
refers to the name attribute of the specific Dog
object that calls the method.
Accessing Object Attributes and Methods
You can access an object’s attributes and methods using the dot (.
) operator.
Objects are a fundamental part of OOP and understanding them is key to structuring your Python code in an organized manner.
Note
The self
keyword in Python is used to reference attributes or methods of the object within the class. It’s equivalent to this
keyword in other programming languages.