UNIT V OBJECT ORIENTED PROGRAMMING IN PYTHON 9

Creating a Class, Class methods, Class Inheritance, Encapsulation, Polymorphism, class method
vs. static methods, Python object persistence.
Python - Object Oriented

Python has been an object-oriented language since it existed. Because of this, creating and using
classes and objects are downright easy. This chapter helps you become an expert in using
Python's object-oriented programming support.

If you do not have any previous experience with object-oriented (OO) programming, you may
want to consult an introductory course on it or at least a tutorial of some sort so that you have a
grasp of the basic concepts.

However, here is small introduction of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) to bring you at

speed −

Overview of OOP Terminology

 Class − A user-defined prototype for an object that defines a set of attributes that
characterize any object of the class. The attributes are data members (class variables and
instance variables) and methods, accessed via dot notation.
 Class variable − A variable that is shared by all instances of a class. Class variables are
defined within a class but outside any of the class's methods. Class variables are not used
as frequently as instance variables are.
 Data member − A class variable or instance variable that holds data associated with a
class and its objects.
 Function overloading − The assignment of more than one behavior to a particular
function. The operation performed varies by the types of objects or arguments involved.
 Instance variable − A variable that is defined inside a method and belongs only to the
current instance of a class.
 Inheritance − The transfer of the characteristics of a class to other classes that are
derived from it.
 Instance − An individual object of a certain class. An object obj that belongs to a class
Circle, for example, is an instance of the class Circle.
 Instantiation − The creation of an instance of a class.
 Method − A special kind of function that is defined in a class definition.
 Object − A unique instance of a data structure that's defined by its class. An object
comprises both data members (class variables and instance variables) and methods.
 Operator overloading − The assignment of more than one function to a particular
operator.

Creating Classes

The class statement creates a new class definition. The name of the class immediately follows
the keyword class followed by a colon as follows −
class ClassName:
'Optional class documentation string'
class_suite

 The class has a documentation string, which can be accessed via ClassName.__doc__.
 The class_suite consists of all the component statements defining class members, data
attributes and functions.

Example

Following is the example of a simple Python class −

class Employee:
'Common base class for all employees'
empCount = 0

def __init__(self, name, salary):

self.name = name
self.salary = salary
Employee.empCount += 1

def displayCount(self):
print "Total Employee %d" % Employee.empCount

def displayEmployee(self):
print "Name : ", self.name, ", Salary: ", self.salary

 The variable empCount is a class variable whose value is shared among all instances of a
this class. This can be accessed as Employee.empCount from inside the class or outside
the class.
 The first method __init__() is a special method, which is called class constructor or
initialization method that Python calls when you create a new instance of this class.
 You declare other class methods like normal functions with the exception that the first
argument to each method is self. Python adds the self argument to the list for you; you do
not need to include it when you call the methods.

Creating Instance Objects

To create instances of a class, you call the class using class name and pass in whatever
arguments its __init__ method accepts.

"This would create first object of Employee class"

emp1 = Employee("Zara", 2000)
"This would create second object of Employee class"
emp2 = Employee("Manni", 5000)
Accessing Attributes

You access the object's attributes using the dot operator with object. Class variable would be
accessed using class name as follows −

emp1.displayEmployee()
emp2.displayEmployee()
print "Total Employee %d" % Employee.empCount

Now, putting all the concepts together −

Live Demo
#!/usr/bin/python

class Employee:
'Common base class for all employees'
empCount = 0

def __init__(self, name, salary):

self.name = name
self.salary = salary
Employee.empCount += 1

def displayCount(self):
print "Total Employee %d" % Employee.empCount

def displayEmployee(self):
print "Name : ", self.name, ", Salary: ", self.salary

"This would create first object of Employee class"

emp1 = Employee("Zara", 2000)
"This would create second object of Employee class"
emp2 = Employee("Manni", 5000)
emp1.displayEmployee()
emp2.displayEmployee()
print "Total Employee %d" % Employee.empCount

When the above code is executed, it produces the following result −

Name : Zara ,Salary: 2000

Name : Manni ,Salary: 5000
Total Employee 2

You can add, remove, or modify attributes of classes and objects at any time −

emp1.age = 7 # Add an 'age' attribute.

emp1.age = 8 # Modify 'age' attribute.
del emp1.age # Delete 'age' attribute.

Instead of using the normal statements to access attributes, you can use the following functions −

 The getattr(obj, name[, default]) − to access the attribute of object.

 The hasattr(obj,name) − to check if an attribute exists or not.
 The setattr(obj,name,value) − to set an attribute. If attribute does not exist, then it
would be created.
 The delattr(obj, name) − to delete an attribute.

hasattr(emp1, 'age') # Returns true if 'age' attribute exists

getattr(emp1, 'age') # Returns value of 'age' attribute
setattr(emp1, 'age', 8) # Set attribute 'age' at 8
delattr(empl, 'age') # Delete attribute 'age'

Built-In Class Attributes

Every Python class keeps following built-in attributes and they can be accessed using dot
operator like any other attribute −

 __dict__ − Dictionary containing the class'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.

For the above class let us try to access all these attributes −

Live Demo
#!/usr/bin/python

class Employee:
'Common base class for all employees'
empCount = 0

def __init__(self, name, salary):

self.name = name
self.salary = salary
Employee.empCount += 1

def displayCount(self):
print "Total Employee %d" % Employee.empCount
 def displayEmployee(self):
print "Name : ", self.name, ", Salary: ", self.salary

print "Employee.__doc__:", Employee.__doc__

print "Employee.__name__:", Employee.__name__
print "Employee.__module__:", Employee.__module__
print "Employee.__bases__:", Employee.__bases__
print "Employee.__dict__:", Employee.__dict__

When the above code is executed, it produces the following result −

Employee.__doc__: Common base class for all employees

Employee.__name__: Employee
Employee.__module__: __main__
Employee.__bases__: ()
Employee.__dict__: {'__module__': '__main__', 'displayCount':
<function displayCount at 0xb7c84994>, 'empCount': 2,
'displayEmployee': <function displayEmployee at 0xb7c8441c>,
'__doc__': 'Common base class for all employees',
'__init__': <function __init__ at 0xb7c846bc>}

Destroying Objects (Garbage Collection)

Python deletes unneeded objects (built-in types or class instances) automatically to free the
memory space. The process by which Python periodically reclaims blocks of memory that no
longer are in use is termed Garbage Collection.

Python's garbage collector runs during program execution and is triggered when an object's
reference count reaches zero. An object's reference count changes as the number of aliases that
point to it changes.

An object's reference count increases when it is assigned a new name or placed in a container
(list, tuple, or dictionary). The object's reference count decreases when it's deleted with del, its
reference is reassigned, or its reference goes out of scope. When an object's reference count
reaches zero, Python collects it automatically.

a = 40 # Create object <40>

b=a # Increase ref. count of <40>
c = [b] # Increase ref. count of <40>

del a # Decrease ref. count of <40>

b = 100 # Decrease ref. count of <40>
c[0] = -1 # Decrease ref. count of <40>

You normally will not notice when the garbage collector destroys an orphaned instance and
reclaims its space. But a class can implement the special method __del__(), called a destructor,
that is invoked when the instance is about to be destroyed. This method might be used to clean
up any non memory resources used by an instance.

Example

This __del__() destructor prints the class name of an instance that is about to be destroyed −

Live Demo
#!/usr/bin/python

class Point:
def __init__( self, x=0, y=0):
self.x = x
self.y = y
def __del__(self):
class_name = self.__class__.__name__
print class_name, "destroyed"

pt1 = Point()
pt2 = pt1
pt3 = pt1
print id(pt1), id(pt2), id(pt3) # prints the ids of the obejcts
del pt1
del pt2
del pt3

When the above code is executed, it produces following result −

3083401324 3083401324 3083401324

Point destroyed

Note − Ideally, you should define your classes in separate file, then you should import them in
your main program file using import statement.

Class Inheritance

Instead of starting from scratch, you can create a class by deriving it from a preexisting class by
listing the parent class in parentheses after the new class name.

The child class inherits the attributes of its parent class, and you can use those attributes as if
they were defined in the child class. A child class can also override data members and methods
from the parent.

Syntax
Derived classes are declared much like their parent class; however, a list of base classes to
inherit from is given after the class name −

class SubClassName (ParentClass1[, ParentClass2, ...]):

'Optional class documentation string'
class_suite

Example

Live Demo
#!/usr/bin/python

class Parent: # define parent class

parentAttr = 100
def __init__(self):
print "Calling parent constructor"

def parentMethod(self):
print 'Calling parent method'

def setAttr(self, attr):

Parent.parentAttr = attr

def getAttr(self):
print "Parent attribute :", Parent.parentAttr

class Child(Parent): # define child class

def __init__(self):
print "Calling child constructor"

def childMethod(self):
print 'Calling child method'

c = Child() # instance of child

c.childMethod() # child calls its method
c.parentMethod() # calls parent's method
c.setAttr(200) # again call parent's method
c.getAttr() # again call parent's method

When the above code is executed, it produces the following result −

Calling child constructor

Calling child method
Calling parent method
Parent attribute : 200
Similar way, you can drive a class from multiple parent classes as follows −

class A: # define your class A

.....

class B: # define your class B

.....

class C(A, B): # subclass of A and B

.....

You can use issubclass() or isinstance() functions to check a relationships of two classes and
instances.

 The issubclass(sub, sup) boolean function returns true if the given subclass sub is indeed
a subclass of the superclass sup.
 The isinstance(obj, Class) boolean function returns true if obj is an instance of class
Class or is an instance of a subclass of Class

Overriding Methods

You can always override your parent class methods. One reason for overriding parent's methods
is because you may want special or different functionality in your subclass.

Example

Live Demo
#!/usr/bin/python

class Parent: # define parent class

def myMethod(self):
print 'Calling parent method'

class Child(Parent): # define child class

def myMethod(self):
print 'Calling child method'

c = Child() # instance of child

c.myMethod() # child calls overridden method

When the above code is executed, it produces the following result −

Calling child method

Base Overloading Methods

Following table lists some generic functionality that you can override in your own classes −

Sr.No. Method, Description & Sample Call

__init__ ( self [,args...] )

1 Constructor (with any optional arguments)

Sample Call : obj = className(args)

__del__( self )

2 Destructor, deletes an object

Sample Call : del obj

__repr__( self )

3 Evaluable string representation

Sample Call : repr(obj)

__str__( self )

4 Printable string representation

Sample Call : str(obj)

__cmp__ ( self, x )

5 Object comparison

Sample Call : cmp(obj, x)

Overloading Operators

Suppose you have created a Vector class to represent two-dimensional vectors, what happens
when you use the plus operator to add them? Most likely Python will yell at you.

You could, however, define the __add__ method in your class to perform vector addition and
then the plus operator would behave as per expectation −

Example

Live Demo
#!/usr/bin/python

class Vector:
def __init__(self, a, b):
self.a = a
self.b = b
 def __str__(self):
return 'Vector (%d, %d)' % (self.a, self.b)

def __add__(self,other):
return Vector(self.a + other.a, self.b + other.b)

v1 = Vector(2,10)
v2 = Vector(5,-2)
print v1 + v2

When the above code is executed, it produces the following result −

Vector(7,8)

Data Hiding

An object's attributes may or may not be visible outside the class definition. You need to name
attributes with a double underscore prefix, and those attributes then are not be directly visible to
outsiders.

Example

Live Demo
#!/usr/bin/python

class JustCounter:
__secretCount = 0

def count(self):
self.__secretCount += 1
print self.__secretCount

counter = JustCounter()
counter.count()
counter.count()
print counter.__secretCount

When the above code is executed, it produces the following result −

1
2
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "test.py", line 12, in <module>
print counter.__secretCount
AttributeError: JustCounter instance has no attribute '__secretCount'
Python protects those members by internally changing the name to include the class name. You
can access such attributes as object._className__attrName. If you would replace your last line
as following, then it works for you −

.........................
print counter._JustCounter__secretCount

When the above code is executed, it produces the following result −

1
2
2
Encapsulation in Python

Encapsulation is one of the fundamental concepts in object-oriented programming (OOP). It

describes the idea of wrapping data and the methods that work on data within one unit. This puts
restrictions on accessing variables and methods directly and can prevent the accidental
modification of data. To prevent accidental change, an object’s variable can only be changed by
an object’s method. Those types of variables are known as private variables.

A class is an example of encapsulation as it encapsulates all the data that is member functions,
variables, etc.

Consider a real-life example of encapsulation, in a company, there are different sections like the
accounts section, finance section, sales section etc. The finance section handles all the financial
transactions and keeps records of all the data related to finance. Similarly, the sales section
handles all the sales-related activities and keeps records of all the sales. Now there may arise a
situation when for some reason an official from the finance section needs all the data about sales
in a particular month. In this case, he is not allowed to directly access the data of the sales
section. He will first have to contact some other officer in the sales section and then request him
to give the particular data. This is what encapsulation is. Here the data of the sales section and
the employees that can manipulate them are wrapped under a single name “sales section”. Using
encapsulation also hides the data. In this example, the data of the sections like sales, finance, or
accounts are hidden from any other section.

Protected members

Protected members (in C++ and JAVA) are those members of the class that cannot be accessed
outside the class but can be accessed from within the class and its subclasses. To accomplish this
in Python, just follow the convention by prefixing the name of the member by a single
underscore “_”.

Although the protected variable can be accessed out of the class as well as in the derived
class(modified too in derived class), it is customary(convention not a rule) to not access the
protected out the class body.
Note: The __init__ method is a constructor and runs as soon as an object of a class is
instantiated.

# Python program to
# demonstrate protected members

# Creating a base class

class Base:
def __init__(self):

# Protected member
self._a = 2

# Creating a derived class

class Derived(Base):
def __init__(self):

# Calling constructor of
# Base class
Base.__init__(self)
print("Calling protected member of base class: ",
self._a)

# Modify the protected variable:

self._a = 3
print("Calling modified protected member outside class: ",
self._a)
obj1 = Derived()

obj2 = Base()

# Calling protected member

# Can be accessed but should not be done due to convention
print("Accessing protected member of obj1: ", obj1._a)

# Accessing the protected variable outside

print("Accessing protected member of obj2: ", obj2._a)

Output:

Calling protected member of base class: 2

Calling modified protected member outside class: 3
Accessing protected member of obj1: 3
Accessing protected member of obj2: 2

Private members

Private members are similar to protected members, the difference is that the class members
declared private should neither be accessed outside the class nor by any base class. In Python,
there is no existence of Private instance variables that cannot be accessed except inside a class.

However, to define a private member prefix the member name with double underscore “__”.

Note: Python’s private and protected members can be accessed outside the class through python
name mangling.
# Python program to
# demonstrate private members

# Creating a Base class

class Base:
def __init__(self):
self.a = "GeeksforGeeks"
self.__c = "GeeksforGeeks"

# Creating a derived class

class Derived(Base):
def __init__(self):

# Calling constructor of
# Base class
Base.__init__(self)
print("Calling private member of base class: ")
print(self.__c)

# Driver code
obj1 = Base()
print(obj1.a)

# Uncommenting print(obj1.c) will

# raise an AttributeError
# Uncommenting obj2 = Derived() will
# also raise an AtrributeError as
# private member of base class
# is called inside derived class

Output:

GeeksforGeeks
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/f4905b43bfcf29567e360c709d3c52bd.py", line 25, in <module>
print(obj1.c)
AttributeError: 'Base' object has no attribute 'c'

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "/home/4d97a4efe3ea68e55f48f1e7c7ed39cf.py", line 27, in <module>
obj2 = Derived()
File "/home/4d97a4efe3ea68e55f48f1e7c7ed39cf.py", line 20, in __init__
print(self.__c)
AttributeError: 'Derived' object has no attribute '_Derived__c'
Polymorphism in Python

 Difficulty Level : Easy

 Last Updated : 04 Aug, 2021

What is Polymorphism: The word polymorphism means having many forms. In programming,
polymorphism means the same function name (but different signatures) being used for different
types.
Example of inbuilt polymorphic functions :

# Python program to demonstrate in-built poly-

# morphic functions

# len() being used for a string

print(len("geeks"))

# len() being used for a list

print(len([10, 20, 30]))
Output:
5
3

Examples of user-defined polymorphic functions :

# A simple Python function to demonstrate

# Polymorphism

def add(x, y, z = 0):

return x + y+z
# Driver code
print(add(2, 3))
print(add(2, 3, 4))
Output:
5
9

Polymorphism with class methods:

The below code shows how Python can use two different class types, in the same way. We create
a for loop that iterates through a tuple of objects. Then call the methods without being concerned
about which class type each object is. We assume that these methods actually exist in each class.

class India():
def capital(self):
print("New Delhi is the capital of India.")

def language(self):
print("Hindi is the most widely spoken language of India.")

def type(self):
print("India is a developing country.")

class USA():
def capital(self):
print("Washington, D.C. is the capital of USA.")

def language(self):
print("English is the primary language of USA.")
 def type(self):
print("USA is a developed country.")

obj_ind = India()
obj_usa = USA()
for country in (obj_ind, obj_usa):
country.capital()
country.language()
country.type()
Output:
New Delhi is the capital of India.
Hindi is the most widely spoken language of India.
India is a developing country.
Washington, D.C. is the capital of USA.
English is the primary language of USA.
USA is a developed country.

Polymorphism with Inheritance:

In Python, Polymorphism lets us define methods in the child class that have the same name as
the methods in the parent class. In inheritance, the child class inherits the methods from the
parent class. However, it is possible to modify a method in a child class that it has inherited from
the parent class. This is particularly useful in cases where the method inherited from the parent
class doesn’t quite fit the child class. In such cases, we re-implement the method in the child
class. This process of re-implementing a method in the child class is known as Method
Overriding.

class Bird:
def intro(self):
print("There are many types of birds.")

def flight(self):
 print("Most of the birds can fly but some cannot.")

class sparrow(Bird):
def flight(self):
print("Sparrows can fly.")

class ostrich(Bird):
def flight(self):
print("Ostriches cannot fly.")

obj_bird = Bird()
obj_spr = sparrow()
obj_ost = ostrich()

obj_bird.intro()
obj_bird.flight()

obj_spr.intro()
obj_spr.flight()

obj_ost.intro()
obj_ost.flight()
Output:
There are many types of birds.
Most of the birds can fly but some cannot.
There are many types of birds.
Sparrows can fly.
There are many types of birds.
Ostriches cannot fly.
Polymorphism with a Function and objects:
It is also possible to create a function that can take any object, allowing for polymorphism. In
this example, let’s create a function called “func()” which will take an object which we will
name “obj”. Though we are using the name ‘obj’, any instantiated object will be able to be called
into this function. Next, let’s give the function something to do that uses the ‘obj’ object we
passed to it. In this case, let’s call the three methods, viz., capital(), language() and type(), each
of which is defined in the two classes ‘India’ and ‘USA’. Next, let’s create instantiations of both
the ‘India’ and ‘USA’ classes if we don’t have them already. With those, we can call their action
using the same func() function:

def func(obj):
obj.capital()
obj.language()
obj.type()

obj_ind =
India()
obj_usa =
USA()

func(obj_ind)
func(obj_usa)

Code: Implementing Polymorphism with a Function

class India():
def capital(self):
print("New Delhi is the capital of India.")

def language(self):
print("Hindi is the most widely spoken language of India.")
 def type(self):
print("India is a developing country.")

class USA():
def capital(self):
print("Washington, D.C. is the capital of USA.")

def language(self):
print("English is the primary language of USA.")

def type(self):
print("USA is a developed country.")

def func(obj):
obj.capital()
obj.language()
obj.type()

obj_ind = India()
obj_usa = USA()

func(obj_ind)
func(obj_usa)
Output:
New Delhi is the capital of India.
Hindi is the most widely spoken language of India.
India is a developing country.
Washington, D.C. is the capital of USA.
English is the primary language of USA.
USA is a developed country.
Class method vs static method in Python

The class method in Python is a method, which is bound to the class but not the object of that
class. The static methods are also same but there are some basic differences. For class methods,
we need to specify @classmethod decorator, and for static method @staticmethod decorator is
used.

Syntax for Class Method.

class my_class:
@classmethod
deffunction_name(cls, arguments):
#Function Body
return value

Syntax for Static Method.

class my_class:
@staticmethod
deffunction_name(arguments):
#Function Body
return value

What are the differences between Classmethod and StaticMehtod?

Class Method Static Method

The class method takes cls (class) as

The static method does not take any specific parameter.
first argument.

Class method can access and modify the

Static Method cannot access or modify the class state.
class state.

The class method takes the class as Static methods do not know about class state. These
parameter to know about the state of that methods are used to do some utility tasks by taking
class. some parameters.

@classmethod decorator is used here. @staticmethod decorator is used here.

The Static methods are used to do some utility tasks, and class methods are used for factory
methods. The factory methods can return class objects for different use cases.

Example code
from datetime import date as dt
class Employee:
def __init__(self, name, age):
self.name = name
self.age = age
@staticmethod
defisAdult(age):
if age > 18:
return True
else:
return False
@classmethod
defemp_from_year(emp_class, name, year):
return emp_class(name, dt.today().year - year)
def __str__(self):
return 'Employee Name: {} and Age: {}'.format(self.name, self.age)
e1 = Employee('Dhiman', 25)
print(e1)
e2 = Employee.emp_from_year('Subhas', 1987)
print(e2)
print(Employee.isAdult(25))
print(Employee.isAdult(16))

Output

Employee Name: Dhiman and Age: 25

Employee Name: Subhas and Age: 31
True
False
Python object persistence (shelve)

PythonProgrammingServer Side Programming

The shelve module in Python’s standard library is a simple yet effective tool for persistent data
storage when using a relational database solution is not required. The shelf object defined in this
module is dictionary-like object which is persistently stored in a disk file. This creates afile
similar to dbm database on UNIX like systems. Only string data type can be used as key in this
special dictionary object, whereas any picklable object can serve as value.

The shelve module defines three classes as follows −

Sr.No. Module & Description

Shelf
1
This is the base class for shelf implementations. It is initialized with dict-like object.

BsdDbShelf
2 This is a subclass of Shelf class. The dict object passed to its constructor must support
first(), next(), previous(), last() and set_location() methods.

DbfilenameShelf
3 This is also a subclass of Shelf but accepts a filename as parameter to its constructor
rather than dict object.

Easiest way to form a Shelf object is to use open() function defined in shelve module which
return a DbfilenameShelf object.

open(filename, flag = 'c', protocol=None, writeback = False)

The filename parameter is assigned to the database created.

Default value for flag parameter is ‘c’ for read/write access. Other flags are ‘w’ (write only) ‘r’
(read only) and ‘n’ (new with read/write)

Protocol parameter denotes pickle protocol writeback parameter by default is false. If set to true,
the accessed entries are cached. Every access calls sync() and close() operations hence process
may be slow.

Following code creates a database and stores dictionary entries in it.

import shelve
s = shelve.open("test")
s['name'] = "Ajay"
s['age'] = 23
s['marks'] = 75
s.close()

This will create test.dir file in current directory and store key-value data in hashed form. The
Shelf object has following methods available −

Sr.No. Method & Description

close()
1
synchronise and close persistent dict object.

sync()
2
Write back all entries in the cache if shelf was opened with writeback set to True.

get()
3
returns value associated with key

items()
4
list of tuples – each tuple is key value pair

keys()
5
list of shelf keys

pop()
6
remove specified key and return the corresponding value.

update()
7
Update shelf from another dict/iterable

values()
8
list of shelf values

To access value of a particular key in shelf.

>>> s=shelve.open('test')
>>> s['age']
23
>>> s['age']=25
>>> s.get('age')
25

The items(), keys() and values() methods return view objects.

>>> list(s.items())
[('name', 'Ajay'), ('age', 25), ('marks', 75)]
>>> list(s.keys())
['name', 'age', 'marks']
>>> list(s.values())
['Ajay', 25, 75]

To remove a key-value pair from shelf

>>> s.pop('marks')
75
>>> list(s.items())
[('name', 'Ajay'), ('age', 25)]

Notice that key-value pair of marks-75 has been removed.

To merge items of another dictionary with shelf use update() method

>>> d={'salary':10000, 'designation':'manager'}

>>> s.update(d)
>>> list(s.items())
[('name', 'Ajay'), ('age', 25), ('salary', 10000), ('designation', 'manager')]

In this article we learned about shelve module which provides convenient mechanism for storing
persistent dictionary object.