[Tutor] Objects C++ vs Python

[Steve Willoughby]

On 08-Jun-11 23:33, Ashwini Oruganti wrote:
> On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 11:31 AM, Steve Willoughby <steve at alchemy.com
> <mailto:steve at alchemy.com>> wrote:
>
>     The value 5 is an integer-class object.
>
>
> But now what is "Integer-class"? Isn't integer a data type? I mean there
> is no concept of "classes" in C, and yet in C, we can write

In Python, everything is an object, so integers are objects.  In C, 
integers are a fundamental data type.  C doesn't have objects at all.

Classes are data types, too, though, (the combination of a data 
representation and the set of behaviors that define what that data does 
in your program).

>
> int x = 5;
>
> Will "5", then be called an integer class object?

In an object-oriented language, yes.  In C, no, since it doesn't even 
have classes.

> What exactly is a class now? I thought is a collection of variables and
> (or) associated functions. Am I missing something here?

But in an object oriented language such as Python, we have classes and 
objects, and integers are just another class of data objects.  In this 
case, it's a very simple data structure with an associated set of 
methods to do things like add integers together, compare them with each 
other, etc.



-- 
Steve Willoughby / steve at alchemy.com
"A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for."
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