- Build robust and dynamic Python objects.
- Accomplish complex programming tasks using knowledge from previous modules.
- Class: a bundle of data and functionality. Can be copied and modified to accomplish a wide variety of programming tasks.
- Initialize: create a working copy of a class using its
__init__()method. - Instance: one specific working copy of a class. It is created when a
class's
__init__()method is called. - Object: the more common name for an instance. The two can usually be used interchangeably.
- Object-Oriented Programming: programming that is oriented around data (made mobile and changeable in objects) rather than functionality. Python is an object-oriented programming language.
- Procedural Programming: programming that is oriented around procedures that are called in sequential order. Fortran and C are procedural programming languages.
- Function: a series of steps that create, transform, and move data.
- Method: a function that is defined inside of a class.
- Magic Method: a special type of method in Python that starts and ends with double underscores. These methods are called on objects under certain conditions without needing to use their names explicitly. Also called dunder methods (for double underscore).
- Attribute: variables that belong to an object.
- Property: attributes that are controlled by methods.
Now we should have a basic grasp on object-oriented programming. As discussed in this section, we should have an understanding of the concept of "objects" that can contain data and/or code, such as attributes and methods.
In this section we explained the concept of class and instance variables, as
well as instance methods. We learned about creating properties using Python's
built-in property() function, as well as how to dynamically manipulate
attributes using attr() functions. We can now set instance attributes from
the __init__ magic method at the same time as we instantiate objects using
the self keyword.
What we will be able to achieve is shared functionality throughout the application as needed. You're well on our way to having enough knowledge of OOP to develop your own fully functional applications!