[Tutor] understanding classes
Lance E Sloan
lsloan@umich.edu
Wed, 14 Aug 2002 10:42:56 -0400
--On Wednesday, August 14, 2002 3:07 PM +0100 alan.gauld@bt.com wrote:
>> I have one question: As far as you know, is "self" in Python
>> basically the same as "this" in Java?
>
> Exactly so and if it helps you can even call it 'this':
>
> class Foo:
> baz = "Class Foo"
> def bar(this):
> return this.baz
Thanks for the confirmation. Gregor and others confirmed that for me, too,
also pointing out that it's a keyword in Java, but an explicitly defined
variable in Python. Is there a special term to refer to that variable,
like "instance variable"?
My next question was going to be, why is the Python convention to name that
variable "self" rather than "this"? I suspect it's just Guido's choice.
Was Java not so well known when this was done? Or is this an intentional
choice to distance Python from Java?
--
Lance E Sloan
Web Services, Univ. of Michigan: Full-service Web and database design,
development, and hosting. Specializing in Python & Perl CGIs.
http://websvcs.itd.umich.edu/ - "Putting U on the Web"