In Python, a method is a function that is available for a given object because of the object's type. For example, if you create my_list = [1, 2, 3], the append method can be applied to my_list because it's a Python list: my_list.append(4).
Now, methods are more like actions, or operations, where you define a function inside the body of a class to perform some operation, for example, killing a mouse. A method could also utilize the attributes that you defined within the object itself. Another key difference between a method and attribute is how you call it.
static methods are sometimes better off as module level functions in python for the sake of cleanliness. With a module function it is easier to import just the function you need and prevent unnecessary "." syntax (I'm looking at you Objective-C). class methods have more use since they can be used in combination with polymorphism to create "factory pattern" functions. this is because class ...
Given a Python object of any kind, is there an easy way to get the list of all methods that this object has? Or if this is not possible, is there at least an easy way to check if it has a particular
These methods provides special syntactic features or do special things. For example, __file__ indicates the location of Python file, __eq__ is executed when a == b expression is executed.
What is the difference between __method__, method and _method__? Is there any or for some random reason people thought that __doc__ should be right like that instead of doc. What makes a method more
However with an interactive python shell like IPython you can use tab-completion to get an overview of all objects defined in the module. This is much more convenient, than using a script and print to see what is defined in the module. module.<tab> will show you all objects defined in the module (functions, classes and so on)
Methods and functions are objects in Python, just like anything else, and you can pass them around the way you do variables. In fact, you can think about a method (or function) as a variable whose value is the actual callable code object.
One of the advantages of Python is that it doesn't force you to use classes for everything. You can use them only when there is data or state that should be associated with the methods, which is what classes are for. Otherwise you can use functions, which is what functions are for.
The reason you need to use self is because Python does not use special syntax to refer to instance attributes. Python decided to do methods in a way that makes the instance to which the method belongs be passed automatically but not received automatically, the first parameter of methods is the instance the method is called on. That makes methods entirely the same as functions and leaves the ...
