Newbie Question regarding __init__()

Dave Angel davea at ieee.org
Sat Aug 1 05:52:11 EDT 2009


Nat Williams wrote:
> As MRAB described, ALL instance methods need to accept 'self' as a first
> parameter, as that will be passed to them implicitly when they are called.
> This includes __init__.  The name 'self' is just a commonly accepted
> convention for the name of the instance object passed to methods.  You don't
> have to call it that, but you really should.
>
> Take a look at http://docs.python.org/tutorial/classes.html#class-objects
> It might help shed some light on how methods and instances work.
>
> One other thing.  I'm a little confused by the first line of
> dcObject.__init__:
>
> self.init_Pre() and self.init_Exec()
>
> I suspect this does not do what you think it does.  init_Pre and init_Exec
> will both be called by this expression (unless init_Pre throws an exception,
> of course).  You're not getting anything here that you wouldn't by just
> calling each method on a separate line, except just making it harder to
> read.
>
>   
Read the doc-string for init_Pre() and for init_Exec().  The final 
version of init_Pre() will return False in some circumstances, and in 
those circumstances Simon doesn't want init_Exec() to be called.  He's 
deliberately using the short-circuit evaluation of  'and'  to accomplish 
that.

>
> On Fri, Jul 31, 2009 at 8:53 PM, Simon <dciphercomputing at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>   
>> Hi
>>
>> So should the dcObject class include the "self" as well since I have
>> not defined an __init__ method in dcCursor?
>>
>> Simon
>>
>> --
>> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
>>
>>     
>
>   
Every one of those methods in both of those classes need a "self" first 
argument.  As others have said, all instance methods need a 'self.'





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