Classes are like creating a blueprint for an object. If we want to build a building then we must have the blueprint for that, like how many rooms will be there, its dimensions and many more, so here the actual building is an object and blueprint of the building is a class.
- A Class is a user-defined data-type which has data members and member functions.
- Data members are the data variables and member functions are the functions used to manipulate these variables and together these data members and member functions define the properties and behavior of the objects in a Class.
A class is defined in Python using keyword class followed by the name of class.
Class and Object structure
Declaring object in python :When a class is defined, only the specification for the object is defined; no memory or storage is allocated. To use the data and access functions defined in the class, we need to create objects.
Syntax :
object = ClassName()
Accessing data member and member functions: They can be accessed by dot(“.”) operator with the object of their respective class. For example, if the object is car and we want to access the function called drive, then we will have to write car.drive().
Inheritance
Inheritance allows us to define a class that inherits all the methods and properties from another class. The class which get inherited is called base class or parent class. The class which inherits the other class is called child class or derived class.
Example :
person class (parent class)
teacher class (child class)
Here we can see both the classes person and teacher, and as we are inheriting the person class in teacher so we have many of the features common like every person has a name, gender, canTalk(in most of the cases), canWalk(in most of the cases) etc., so in teacher class, we don’t need to implement that thing again as it is inherited by teacher class so whatever features person has teacher must have, so we can add more features like canTeach() and teacher id and many other.
So the basic idea is if any class has inherited in other class then it must have the parent class features(it’s unto you if want to use you can use ) and we can add more features on them.
Constructor
Constructors are generally used for instantiating an object. The task of constructors is to initialize(assign values) to the data members of the class when an object of the class is created. In Python, the __init__() method is called the constructor and is always called when an object is created.
Syntax :
def __init__(self): # body of the constructor
Super
Python has super function which allows us to access temporary object of the super class.
Use of super class :
- We need not use the base class name explicitly.
- Helps in working with multiple inheritance.
Super with Single Inheritance :
Example :
# this is the class which will become# the super class of "Subclass" classclass Class(): def __init__(self, x): print(x) # this is the subclass of class "Class"class SubClass(Class): def __init__(self, x): # this is how we call super # class's constructor super().__init__(x) # driver codex = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]a = SubClass(x) |
Output :
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Super with Multiple Inheritance :
Example : Implement the following inheritance structure in python using the super function :
Inheritance Structure
# defining class Aclass A: def __init__(self, txt): print(txt, 'I am in A Class') # B class inheriting Aclass B(A): def __init__(self, txt): print(txt, 'I am in B class') super().__init__(txt) # C class inheriting Bclass C(B): def __init__(self, txt): print(txt, 'I am in C class') super().__init__(txt) # D class inheriting Bclass D(B): def __init__(self, txt): print(txt, 'I am in D class') super().__init__(txt) # E class inheriting both D and Cclass E(D, C): def __init__(self): print( 'I am in E class') super().__init__('hello ') # driver coded = E()print('')h = C('hi') |
Output :
I am in E class hello I am in D class hello I am in C class hello I am in B class hello I am in A Class hi I am in C class hi I am in B class hi I am in A Class
