Accessing a nested class via "self"? - python

So, I have a situation as described as follow:
class A(object):
def __init__(self):
pass
def foo(self):
a = self.InnerClass()
a.hooo()
class InnerClass(object):
def hooo(self):
print 'Yeah!'
class DummyA(A):
class InnerClass(A.InnerClass):
def hooo(self):
print 'Yay!'
class Test(object):
x = DummyA()
x.foo()
A is my main class which I want to test. Then there is an inner class whose function hooo() is getting called. I want to override that function in my DummyA class. so, I did that as described in code. It works and the output is 'Yay!'. I have seen in many examples online that outer class always accesses inner class by this syntax. OuterClass.InnerClass but in my case I have used self to access inner class. Is it bad practice? if so, for what reason? Any other way I can test the function hooo?

Related

Refer to a superclass from the class body

I've got some code where I need to refer to a superclass when defining stuff in a derived class:
class Base:
def foo(self):
print('foo')
def bar(self):
print('bar')
class Derived_A(Base):
meth = Base.foo
class Derived_B(Base):
meth = Base.bar
Derived_A().meth()
Derived_B().meth()
This works, but I don't like verbatim references to Base in derived classes. Is there a way to use super or alike for this?
You can't do that.
class keyword in Python is used to create classes which are instances of type type. In it's simplified version, it does the following:
Python creates a namespace and executes the body of the class in that namespace so that it will be populated with all methods and attributes and so on...
Then calls the three-arguments form of type(). The result of this call is your class which is then assign to a symbol which is the name of your class.
The point is when the body of the class is being executed. It doesn't know about the "bases". Those bases are passed to the type() after that.
I also explained the reasons why you can't use super() here.
Does this work for you?
class Base:
def foo(self):
print('foo')
def bar(self):
print('bar')
class Derived_A(Base):
def __init__(self):
self.meth = super().foo
class Derived_B(Base):
def __init__(self):
self.meth = super().bar
a = Derived_A().meth()
b = Derived_B().meth()
You'll need to lookup the method on the base class after the new type is created. In the body of the class definition, the type and base classes are not accessible.
Something like:
class Derived_A(Base):
def meth(self):
return super().foo()
Now, it is possible to do some magic behind the scenes to expose Base to the scope of the class definition as its being executed, but that's much dirtier, and would mean that you'd need to supply a metaclass in your class definition.
Since you want "magic", there is still one sane option we can take before diving into metaclasses. Requires Python 3.9+
def alias(name):
def inner(cls):
return getattr(cls, name).__get__(cls)
return classmethod(property(inner))
class Base:
def foo(self):
...
class Derived_A(Base):
meth = alias("foo")
Derived_A().meth() # works
Derived_A.meth() # also works
Yes, this does require passing the method name as a string, which destroys your IDE and typechecker's ability to reason about it. But there isn't a good way to get what you are wanting without some compromises like that.
Really, a bit of redundancy for readability is probably worth it here.

correct way of extending a class in python

I am given a designated factory of A-type objects. I would like to make a new version of A-type objects that also have the methods in a Mixin class. For reasons that are too long to explain here, I can't use class A(Mixin), I have to use the A_factory. Below I try to give a bare bones example.
I thought naively that it would be sufficient to inherit from Mixin to endow A-type objects with the mixin methods, but the attempts below don't work:
class A: pass
class A_factory:
def __new__(self):
return A()
class Mixin:
def method(self):
print('aha!')
class A_v2(Mixin): # attempt 1
def __new__(cls):
return A_factory()
class A_v3(Mixin): # attempt 2
def __new__(cls):
self = A_factory()
super().__init__(self)
return self
In fact A_v2().method() and A_v3().method() raises AttributeError: 'A' object has no attribute 'method'.
What is the correct way of using A_factory within class A_vn(Mixin) so that A-type objects created by the factory inherit the mixin methods?
There's no obvious reason why you should need __new__ for what you're showing here. There's a nice discussion here on the subject: Why is __init__() always called after __new__()?
If you try the below it should work:
class Mixin:
def method(self):
print('aha!')
class A(Mixin):
def __init__(self):
super().__init__()
test = A()
test.method()
If you need to use a factory method, it should be a function rather than a class. There's a very good discussion of how to use factory methods here: https://realpython.com/factory-method-python/

Unresolved reference in class method

I don't think it is because of the scope of the function, but I get a
Unresolved reference at get_all_predicates(examples).count(predicate_list[0])
inside get_entropy_of_attributes(examples, predicate_list) function in my class Tree:
class Tree:
def get_examples(examples, attributes):
for value in examples:
yield dict(zip(attributes, value.strip().replace(" ", "").split(',')))
def get_all_predicates(examples):
return [d['Predicate'] for d in examples]
def get_entropy_of_attributes(examples, predicate_list):
get_all_predicates(examples).count(predicate_list[0])
return 0
examples = list(get_examples(all_examples, name_of_attributes))
predicate_list = list(set(get_all_predicates(examples)))
get_entropy_of_attributes(examples, predicate_list)
all_examples is a list of dictionary and name_of_attributes is a list, that holds values imported from a text file.
all_examples = [{'P_Length': '1.4', 'P_Width': '0.2', 'Predicate': 'I-setosa', 'Sepal_Width': '3.5', 'S_Length': '5.1'}, ...]
name_of_attributes = ["Check","P-Width"]
Any help?
Classes do not have scopes, only namespaces. This means that functions defined within them cannot see other class variables automatically.
class Foo(object):
var = 1 # lets create a class variable
def foo():
print(var) # this doesn't work!
To access a class variable, you need use attribute syntax: either Foo.var (to access via the class) or, if you're writing an instance method, with self.var (to access via the current instance, which will be passed in as the first argument).
class Bar(object):
var = 1
def bar1():
print(Bar.var) # works
def bar2(self):
print(self.var) # also works, if called on an instance, e.g. `Bar().bar2()`
With this kind of setup you can almost fix your current code (but not quite).
def get_entropy_of_attributes(examples, predicate_list):
Tree.get_all_predicates(examples).count(predicate_list[0]) # name the class
return 0
If you call this after the class is fully initialized, it will work without any exceptions (though it's implementation seems a bit nonsensical). However, it doesn't work when you call it to define a class variable, as your current code does. That's because the class object is only created and bound to the class name after all of the class body has been run.
I think the fix for that is probably to redesign your class in a more conventional way. Rather than having class variables set up based on various globals (like all_examples), you should probably create instances of your class by passing in arguments to the constructor and making the other variables you calculate from them instance attributes. I'd try to write it out, but frankly I don't understand what you're doing well enough.
If you want to call class methods, you have to call them with self, e.g.
class myClass:
def __init__(self):
pass
def get_all_predicates(self):
print('asd')
def do_something(self):
self.get_all_predicates() # working
get_all_predicates() # → Unresolved reference
test = myClass()
test.do_something()
See this link for examples for Python classes.

inheriting python method with a call to super inside the method

I am developing a system, which has a series of single multilevel inheritance hierarachy. one of the methods (applicable to all the classes) has to perform the same thing for most of the classes, which is to pass a list to its parent class.
I know that if one doesn't define a method in one of the inherited classes, its parents' methods are used. But when we use the super method, we need to mention the name of the class being called.
One method I know to achieve this is to redefine the method at every class with class name as argument. Is there any elegant method where I can define it once at the topmost parent, and then override it only when necessary?
The implementation right now looks like this
class a(object):
def __init__(self):
self.myL = list()
print 'hello'
class b(a):
def __init__(self):
super(b,self).__init__()
def resolve(self, passVal):
print passVal
self.myL.append(passVal)
super(b,self).resolve(passVal+1)
class c(b):
def __init__(self):
super(c,self).__init__()
def resolve(self, passVal):
print passVal
self.myL.append(passVal)
super(c,self).resolve(passVal+1)
Instead if I can define resolve in class a, and then all other classes inherit the method from it. I understand a will never be able to use it. but redefining the method seems a lot unnecessary extra work.

Scope of classes inside of functions and classes inside of a class in python

I am writing some code and had a general question about python
If I have something like this:
class A():
def __init__(self):
self.name
...
def doSomething(self):
class B():
def __init__(self):
self.name
...
c = B()
c.whatever()
Does that mean that class B is private to that function only or can it be called from an instance of class A? On that note if I had some code like this:
class A():
class B():
def __init__(self):
self.name
def __init__(self):
self.name
...
def doSomething(self):
...
I can call it by doing this d = A.B() right?
The thing to realize is that the class statement just creates a variable whose value is a class. The way the resulting class's scope works is the same the way a variable's scope would work if you just did a normal variable assignment like x = 2.
Any variables you create inside a function are local to that function unless you specify otherwise. So using a class statement inside a function just creates a local variable whose value is a class. It can't be accessed from outside the function.
In other words, this:
def foo():
class A(object):
pass
is not really different from this:
def foo():
A = 2
In both cases you create a local variable A inside the function. In one case its value is a class and in the other its value is an integer, but in both cases it's a local variable and has no existence outside the function.
In your second example, the class is created inside the enclosing class. Variables created inside a class namespace are class attributes, so yes, you can access it as you describe. (Why you'd want to do this is another question.) In other words, as above, this:
class A(object):
class B(object):
pass
is not that different from this:
class A(object):
B = 2
In both cases you create a class A that has a class attribute B.

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