Question

Coming from a Java background, I want a class to have certain attributes and set them in the constructor.

Currently I use the global keyword
eg.

def class A():

 global attribute1
 global attribute2

 __init__():
  attribute1 = 1
  attribute2 = 2

Is there a better way of doing this? Reason I am asking is because I am not sure whether setting all attributes “Global” is correct.

EDIT: Also, whenever I access the attributes, I need self.attribute … is this necessary? i.e. in java you dont require this.attribute all the time.

Answer 1

The right way to do this is to add the attributes to the constructor and add them on your instance.

>>> class A(object):
...    def __init__(self, attribute1, attribute2):
...        self.attribute1 = attribute1
...        self.attribute2 = attribute2
...

>>> a = A(1, 2)
>>> a.attribute1
1
>>> a.attribute2
2

As for your second question, yes, you need to use self.attribute within the instance to refer to it.