Mailing List Archive

On Mon, 19 Apr 1999 21:47:47 GMT, cmedcoff@my-dejanews.com wrote:
>As will soon be apparent I am totally new to Python. In the code fragment
>below I expect to see the output "foobar", but I do not. Can anyone tell me
>why? All the bookstores seem to be out of "Learning Python". Are they out of
>print already or has the initial shipment still not released?

I suspect that the store hasn't ordered any. Keep bugging them :).

>class Test:
> _name = ""
> def __init__(self, name):
> _name = name
> def show(self):
> print self._name

First of all, I suspect that you're using the underscore because you want
the variable to be private. If so, try a double underscore, like __name.

>mytest = Test("foobar")
>mytest.show()

The problem is that you're setting "_name" (a variable local to the
__init__ function) instead of "self._name". Add that "self." and you'll
be fine.

Also, you don't need to have a class variable named the same as your
object variable -- it'll never get viewed. Feel free to remove the '_name
= ""' line from the class definition.

>Regards,
>Chuck

--
-William "Billy" Tanksley
"But you shall not escape my iambics."
-- Gaius Valerius Catullus

cmedcoff@my-dejanews.com wrote:
>
> As will soon be apparent I am totally new to Python. In the code fragment
> below I expect to see the output "foobar", but I do not. Can anyone tell me
> why?
...
> class Test:
> _name = ""
> def __init__(self, name):
> _name = name
> def show(self):
> print self._name
>
> mytest = Test("foobar")
> mytest.show()

The line "_name = name" should be "self._name = name".
Unlike C++, Python does not supply an implicit "this" or "self".
(Once you get used to it, this is actually a good thing.)
The "_name" you assigned to is simply a local variable within
the __init__() method; it vanishes as soon as the method ends.