I am rather new to using classes. I struggle with functions (i.e. methods) in classes and how to access the classes attributes via method parameter.
My aim is to have a method accessing an instance's list (and the instances contained therein, yadda yadda)
While:
class dictclasser:
def __init__(self, attribute):
self.attribute = attribute
def printattr(self):
self.printattr2()
def printattr2(self):
return self.attribute
classcollection = []
while True:
attribute = input()
classcollection.append(dictclasser(attribute))
for i in classcollection:
print(i.printattr())
Returns None
class dictclasser:
def __init__(self, attribute):
self.attribute = attribute
def printattr(self):
return self.attribute
classcollection = []
while True:
attribute = input()
classcollection.append(dictclasser(attribute))
for i in classcollection:
print(i.printattr())
Returns everything as intended. I cannot figure out why printattr can access the instances attribute and printattr2 cannot. I have checked "Similar Question" to no avail.
Thanks in advance!
Because you missed a return statement in the first printattr. In order to propagate the return value of printattr2 onwards from printattr you have to return the returned value:
def printattr(self):
return self.printattr2()
Your printattr function has no return statement. Change
self.printattr2()
to
return self.printattr2()
Related
I have a class that I need:
First instance MUST receive a parameter.
All the following instances have this parameter be optional.
If it is not passed then I will use the parameter of the previous object init.
For that, I need to share a variable between the objects (all objects belong to classes with the same parent).
For example:
class MyClass:
shared_variable = None
def __init__(self, paremeter_optional=None):
if paremeter_optional is None: # Parameter optional not given
if self.shared_variable is None:
print("Error! First intance must have the parameter")
sys.exit(-1)
else:
paremeter_optional = self.shared_variable # Use last parameter
self.shared_variable = paremeter_optional # Save it for next object
objA = MyClass(3)
objB = MyClass()
Because the shared_variable is not consistent/shared across inits, when running the above code I get the error:
Error! First intance must have the parameter
(After the second init of objB)
Of course, I could use a global variable but I want to avoid it if possible and use some best practices for this.
Update: Having misunderstood the original problem, I would still recommend being explicit, rather than having the class track information better tracked outside the class.
class MyClass:
def __init__(self, parameter):
...
objA = MyClass(3)
objB = MyClass(4)
objC = MyClass(5)
objD = MyClass(5) # Be explicit; don't "remember" what was used for objC
If objC and objD are "related" enough that objD can rely on the initialization of objC, and you want to be DRY, use something like
objC, objD = [MyClass(5) for _ in range(2)]
Original answer:
I wouldn't make this something you set from an instance at all; it's a class attribute, and so should be set at the class level only.
class MyClass:
shared_variable = None
def __init__(self):
if self.shared_variable is None:
raise RuntimeError("shared_variable must be set before instantiating")
...
MyClass.shared_variable = 3
objA = MyClass()
objB = MyClass()
Assigning a value to self.shared_variable makes self.shared_variable an instance attribute so that the value is not shared among instances.
You can instead assign the value explicitly to the class attribute by referencing the attribute of the instance's class object instead.
Change:
self.shared_variable = paremeter_optional
to:
self.__class__.shared_variable = paremeter_optional
I am new to python ( started 1 week ago) and this is the first time i am doing coding so i am not able to understand fairly simple things as well.
can you explain this function to to me? i understand that a function is being defined with 2 input required self and my_object, but what is happening next? please explain like you would to a newbie.
class chain():
def __init__(self, my_object):
self.o = my_object
def __getattr__(self, attr):
x = getattr(self.o, attr)
if hasattr(x, '__call__'):
method = x
return lambda *args: self if method(*args) is None else method(*args)
else:
prop = x
return prop
Firstly, chain is not a Function, it's a Class.
A class in simple words is a definition of an object. (say Car)
Now the __init__ function of the class simply defines what's "in it" meaning what variables or properties does it has. Say for example a class Car:
class Car:
def __init__(self,maxspeed,color):
self.speed = maxspeed #So what's defined under **__init__** is a property of a class.
self.color = color
So here Class car has speed and color as variables(or attributes or properties)
Now there are methods , of simply function that control the behaviour of the object and it's functionalities.
class Car:
def __init__(self,maxspeed,color):
self.speed = maxspeed #So what's defined under **__init__** is a property of a class.
self.color = color
def accelarate(self): #Method to increase the speed of car object.
self.sepped = self.speed + 10
Now the method you have is a magical one , __getattr__
Say a scenario where you want to acess the brand of the car , now you haven't define self.brand in it's __init__ function so you you'll get an error when you call it like:
>>>red_car = Car(100,red) #Creating an object named red_car of class Car
>>>red_car.color
>>>'red'
>>>red_car.brand
>>> Attribute Error , Class car dosen't has attribute brand
Now remove this error when calling an undefined property for a object or put simple we tell tell the class what to do if an undefined variable is called we use the method __getattr__.
class Dummy(object):
def __getattr__(self, attr):
return attr.upper()
d = Dummy()
d.does_not_exist # 'DOES_NOT_EXIST'
d.what_about_this_one # 'WHAT_ABOUT_THIS_ONE'
In the above code does_not_exist property (attribute) is NOT define but still we are not getting error as the getattr catches it and does as instructed. In this case it catches attr capitalises it and returns it rather than throwing an error in your face.
The class chain has a constructor that takes an argument my_object and assigns it to an instance variable self.o.
The method __getattr__ is a special magic method that has been overridden to delegate calls to the initial my_object variable we first received.
The result of the delegated call is checked for a method named __call__. If present, it is called and the returned value is returned. If not, the value itself is returned as-is.
I have a class whose attributes are not known beforehand:
class Event():
def __init__(self, **kwargs):
for key, value in kwargs.items():
setattr(self, key, value)
and another one which is basically a list of objects Event:
class Collection(list):
def __init__(self):
self.members = []
def add(self,new):
try:
self.members.extend(new)
except TypeError:
self.members.append(new)
Let's say now that I define 3 objects Event:
a = Event(name="a",value=1)
b = Event(name="b",value=2)
c = Event(name="c",other=True)
And I create a Collection from them:
col = Collection()
col.add([a,b,c])
What I want is to be able to print out all the values of the objects in the list for a given attribute (if the attribute does not exist for an object, it should return None or any other pre-defined value). For example:
print col.name #should return ["a","b","c"]
print col.value #should return [1,2,None]
I have read the following answer: Extract list of attributes from list of objects in python
But that doesn't work here since the name of my attribute is not known by advance, and some might not even be defined. How should I define my class Collection(), or maybe even re-think everything to achieve my goal ?
This is a variation of "I want to create dynamic variable names". The solution here is the same: use a dictionary.
class Event(object):
def __init__(self, **kwargs):
self.attributes = dict(kwargs)
Your Collection class will need a custom __getattr__ method, so that it can look up values in its Event list instead.
class Collection(object):
# assume self.events is a list of Event objects
def __getattr__(self, name):
return [event.attributes.get(name) for event in self.events]
You could stick with your current implementation of Event, and have Collection look at event.__dict__ instead of event.attributes. I don't recall, though, if __dict__ might contain anything else besides the attributes you explicitly set. I'd err on the side of caution.
You can just override the __getattr__ method of the Collection class, which is called when an attribute is accessed. In order to access to unknown set of attributes you can use event.__dict__. So, a possible solution is like this:
def __getattr__(self, name):
return [m.__dict__.get(name) for m in self.members]
I have a dict of different types for which I want to add a simple getter based on the name of the actual parameter.
For example, for three storage parameters, let's say:
self.storage = {'total':100,'used':88,'free':1}
I am looking now for a way (if possible?) to generate a function on the fly with some meta-programming magic.
Instead of
class spaceObj(object):
def getSize(what='total'):
return storage[what]
or hard coding
#property
def getSizeTotal():
return storage['total']
but
class spaceObj(object):
# manipulting the object's index and magic
#property
def getSize:
return ???
so that calling mySpaceObj.getSizeFree would be derived - with getSize only defined once in the object and related functions derived from it by manipulating the objects function list.
Is something like that possible?
While certainly possible to get an unknown attribute from a class as a property, this is not a pythonic approach (__getattr__ magic methods are rather rubyist)
class spaceObj(object):
storage = None
def __init__(self): # this is for testing only
self.storage = {'total':100,'used':88,'free':1}
def __getattr__(self, item):
if item[:7] == 'getSize': # check if an undefined attribute starts with this
return self.getSize(item[7:])
def getSize(self, what='total'):
return self.storage[what.lower()]
print (spaceObj().getSizeTotal) # 100
You can put the values into the object as properties:
class SpaceObj(object):
def __init__(self, **kwargs):
self.__dict__.update(kwargs)
storage = {'total':100,'used':88,'free':1}
o = SpaceObj(**storage)
print o.total
or
o = SpaceObj(total=100, used=88, free=1)
print o.total
or using __getattr__:
class SpaceObj(object):
def __init__(self, **kwargs):
self.storage = kwargs
def __getattr__(self,name):
return self.storage[name]
o = SpaceObj(total=100, used=88, free=1)
print o.total
The latter approach takes a bit more code but it's more safe; if you have a method foo and someone create the instance with SpaceObj(foo=1), then the method will be overwritten with the first approach.
>>> import new
>>> funcstr = "def wat(): print \"wat\";return;"
>>> funcbin = compile(funcstr,'','exec')
>>> ns = {}
>>> exec funcbin in ns
>>> watfunction = new.function(ns["wat"].func_code,globals(),"wat")
>>> globals()["wat"]=watfunction
>>> wat()
wat
I am programming a simulations for single neurons. Therefore I have to handle a lot of Parameters. Now the Idea is that I have two classes, one for a SingleParameter and a Collection of parameters. I use property() to access the parameter value easy and to make the code more readable. This works perfect for a sinlge parameter but I don't know how to implement it for the collection as I want to name the property in Collection after the SingleParameter. Here an example:
class SingleParameter(object):
def __init__(self, name, default_value=0, unit='not specified'):
self.name = name
self.default_value = default_value
self.unit = unit
self.set(default_value)
def get(self):
return self._v
def set(self, value):
self._v = value
v = property(fget=get, fset=set, doc='value of parameter')
par1 = SingleParameter(name='par1', default_value=10, unit='mV')
par2 = SingleParameter(name='par2', default_value=20, unit='mA')
# par1 and par2 I can access perfectly via 'p1.v = ...'
# or get its value with 'p1.v'
class Collection(object):
def __init__(self):
self.dict = {}
def __getitem__(self, name):
return self.dict[name] # get the whole object
# to get the value instead:
# return self.dict[name].v
def add(self, parameter):
self.dict[parameter.name] = parameter
# now comes the part that I don't know how to implement with property():
# It shoule be something like
# self.__dict__[parameter.name] = property(...) ?
col = Collection()
col.add(par1)
col.add(par2)
col['par1'] # gives the whole object
# Now here is what I would like to get:
# col.par1 -> should result like col['par1'].v
# col.par1 = 5 -> should result like col['par1'].v = 5
Other questions that I put to understand property():
Why do managed attributes just work for class attributes and not for instance attributes in python?
How can I assign a new class attribute via __dict__ in python?
Look at built-in functions getattr and setattr. You'll probably be a lot happier.
Using the same get/set functions for both classes forces you into an ugly hack with the argument list. Very sketchy, this is how I would do it:
In class SingleParameter, define get and set as usual:
def get(self):
return self._s
def set(self, value):
self._s = value
In class Collection, you cannot know the information until you create the property, so you define the metaset/metaget function and particularize them only later with a lambda function:
def metaget(self, par):
return par.s
def metaset(self, value, par):
par.s = value
def add(self, par):
self[par.name] = par
setattr(Collection, par.name,
property(
fget=lambda x : Collection.metaget(x, par),
fset=lambda x, y : Collection.metaset(x,y, par))
Properties are meant to dynamically evaluate attributes or to make them read-only. What you need is customizing attribute access. __getattr__ and __setattr__ do that really fine, and there's also __getattribute__ if __getattr__ is not enough.
See Python docs on customizing attribute access for details.
Have you looked at the traits package? It seems that you are reinventing the wheel here with your parameter classes. Traits also have additional features that might be useful for your type of application (incidently I know a person that happily uses traits in neural simulations).
Now I implemented a solution with set-/getattr:
class Collection(object):
...
def __setattr__(self, name, value):
if 'dict' in self.__dict__:
if name in self.dict:
self[name].v = value
else:
self.__dict__[name] = value
def __getattr__(self, name):
return self[name].v
There is one thing I quite don't like that much: The attributes are not in the __dict__. And if I have them there as well I would have a copy of the value - which can be dangerous...
Finally I succeded to implement the classes with property(). Thanks a lot for the advice. It took me quite a bit to work it out - but I can promise you that this exercise helps you to understand better pythons OOP.
I implemented it also with __getattr__ and __setattr__ but still don't know the advantages and disadvantages to the property-solution. But this seems to be worth another question. The property-solutions seems to be quit clean.
So here is the code:
class SingleParameter(object):
def __init__(self, name, default_value=0, unit='not specified'):
self.name = name
self.default_value = default_value
self.unit = unit
self.set(default_value)
def get(*args):
self = args[0]
print "get(): "
print args
return self._v
def set(*args):
print "set(): "
print args
self = args[0]
value = args[-1]
self._v = value
v = property(fget=get, fset=set, doc='value of parameter')
class Collection(dict):
# inheriting from dict saves the methods: __getitem__ and __init__
def add(self, par):
self[par.name] = par
# Now here comes the tricky part.
# (Note: this property call the get() and set() methods with one
# more argument than the property of SingleParameter)
setattr(Collection, par.name,
property(fget=par.get, fset=par.set))
# Applying the classes:
par1 = SingleParameter(name='par1', default_value=10, unit='mV')
par2 = SingleParameter(name='par2', default_value=20, unit='mA')
col = Collection()
col.add(par1)
col.add(par2)
# Setting parameter values:
par1.v = 13
col.par1 = 14
# Getting parameter values:
par1.v
col.par1
# checking identity:
par1.v is col.par1
# to access the whole object:
col['par1']
As I am new I am not sure how to move on:
how to treat follow up questions (like this itself):
get() is seems to be called twice - why?
oop-design: property vs. "__getattr__ & __setattr__" - when should I use what?
is it rude to check the own answer to the own question as accepted?
is it recommended to rename the title in order to put correlated questions or questions elaborated with the same example into the same context?
Other questions that I put to understand property():
Why do managed attributes just work for class attributes and not for instance attributes in python?
How can I assign a new class attribute via __dict__ in python?
I have a class that does something similar, but I did the following in the collection object:
setattr(self, par.name, par.v)