[Tutor] Contructor Overloading and Function Tooktips

[Danny Yoo]

On Fri, 15 Apr 2005, Gooch, John wrote:

> Is there a way to create multiple __init__ routines in a Python Class?

Hi John,


In general, Python doesn't support "overloading".  Overloading wouldn't
interact well at all with functions that can take a variable number of
arguments.

That being said, can you write a really general initializer that fits all
your cases?  If so, then you might provide a set of utility factory
functions to simplify calling the general initializer.


For example:

######
>>> class BankAccount:
...     def __init__(self, name, initialAmount):
...         self.name = name
...         self.amount = initialAmount
...
>>> def makeBankruptAccount(name):
...     return BankAccount(name, 0)
...
>>> def makeMillionareAccount(name):
...     return BankAccount(name, 10 ** 6)
...
>>> def makeAnonymousDonor(amount):
...     return BankAccount(None, amount)
...
######

Best of wishes!