Class Flashcards
What is a class?
In Python, a class is a template for creating objects. It defines the attributes and behaviors that an object of the class will have. You can think of a class as a blueprint for an object, and an object as an instance of a class.
Example of how you would define a class in python
class Dog:
def __init__(self, name, breed):
self.name = name
self.breed = breed
This code defines a class called Dog with two attributes: name and breed. The __init__ method is a special method in Python classes that is called when an object of the class is created. It is used to initialize the attributes of the object.
To create an object of the Dog class, you can use the following code:
dog1 = Dog(“Fido”, “Labrador”)
dog2 = Dog(“Buddy”, “Poodle”)
This code creates two Dog objects, dog1 and dog2, with the names “Fido” and “Buddy” and the breeds “Labrador” and “Poodle”, respectiv
You can access the attributes of an object using dot notation, like this:
print(dog1.name) # Outputs “Fido”
print(dog2.breed) # Outputs “Poodle”
what is an object?
An object is an instance of a class. When you define a class in Python, you are creating a template for objects of that class. To create an object of a class, you use the class name followed by parentheses.
For example, consider the following Dog class:
class Dog:
def __init__(self, name, breed):
self.name = name
self.breed = breed
To create an object of the Dog class, you can use the following code:
dog1 = Dog(“Fido”, “Labrador”)
This creates an object of the Dog class called dog1 with the name “Fido” and the breed “Labrador”. You can think of an object as a specific instance of a class, with its own unique attributes and behaviors.
To create an object of the Dog class, you can use the following code:
dog1 = Dog(“Fido”, “Labrador”)
This creates an object of the Dog class called dog1 with the name “Fido” and the breed “Labrador”. You can think of an object as a specific instance of a class, with its own unique attributes and behaviors.
You can access the attributes of an object using dot notation, like this:
print(dog1.name) # Outputs “Fido”
print(dog1.breed) # Outputs “Labrador”
You can access the attributes of an object using dot notation, like this:
print(dog1.name) # Outputs “Fido”
print(dog1.breed) # Outputs “Labrador”
When do i pick to use a class when coding?
You might choose to use a class when you want to represent a real-world object in your code, and you want to model the attributes and behaviors of that object.
For example, you might define a Dog class to represent dogs in your code. Each object of the Dog class could have attributes like name, breed, and age, and behaviors like bark and fetch. This would allow you to create multiple Dog objects with different attributes and use the same methods to interact with them.
Classes can be especially useful when you want to reuse code or build a complex system. For example, you might define a Shape class with attributes like color and size and behaviors like calculate_area and calculate_perimeter. You could then create subclasses for specific types of shapes, like Circle, Rectangle, and Triangle, that inherit the attributes and behaviors of the Shape class and add any additional attributes and behaviors that are specific to that type of shape.
In general, you should consider using a class when you want to represent a real-world object in your code, and you want to model the attributes and behaviors of that object in a way that allows you to reuse code and build a complex system.
I hope this helps give you an idea of when to use classes in your code! Let me know if you have any questions.