This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by cycool29
Table of Contents
- What is Object-Oriented Programming?
- What is
__init__method? - Example usecase of
__init__method
Whenever we have object oriented programming in Python, we mostly come across __init__ method which we usually don’t fully understand.
Today, programmers are bound to come across Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) during their career. As a modern and popular programming language, Python provides all the means to implement the object-oriented philosophy. The __init__ method is at the core of Object-Oriented Programming and is one of the essential parts to create objects.
What is Object-Oriented Programming? 🧐
Before looking at __init__, it's very helpful if we have the idea of what is Object-Oriented Programming (OOP).
Object Oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm that relies on the concept of classes and objects. It is used to structure a software program into simple, reusable pieces of code blueprints (usually called classes), which are used to create individual instances of objects.
An object is a collection of complex variables and functions and can be used to represent real entities like a button, an airplane, or a person.
To declare, initialize, and manipulate objects in Python, we use classes. They serve as templates from which objects are created.
Now the point comes... What is `__init__` method? 🤔
The __init__ method is a reseved method in Python classes. It is the Python equivalent of the C++ constructor in an object-oriented approach. When you create a new object of a class, Python automatically pass your arguments to the __init__ method and call it to initialize the object’s attributes.
The __init__ method lets the class initialize the object’s attributes and serves no other purpose. It is only used within classes.
Example usecase of `__init__` method 💡
Let's see how we can use __init__ method.
First, we create a Book class, with a simple __init__ method to initialize informations of the book and a function to print the book info.
class Book:
def __init__(self, title, author, language):
# Initialize book informations
self.title = title
self.author = author
self.language = language
def print_book_info(self):
print(f'Title: {self.title}')
print(f'Author: {self.author}')
print(f'Language: {self.language}')
Now, we will create an object of the class.
book1 = Book(title='Harry Potter and the Sorcerer Stone', author='JK. Rowling', language='English')
When you create the object above, __init__ method was called and initialized the book infos.
To prove that, let's print the book info.
book1.print_book_info()
The output should be:
Title: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer Stone
Author: JK. Rowling
Language: English
Thanks for reading! 😎
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This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by cycool29
cycool29 | Sciencx (2022-03-30T01:44:20+00:00) Understanding `__init__` Method in Python. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2022/03/30/understanding-__init__-method-in-python/
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