Python Variable Declaration
Question:
I want to clarify how variables are declared in Python.
- I have seen variable declaration as
class writer:
path = ""
sometimes, there is no explicit declaration but just initialization using __init__:
def __init__(self, name):
self.name = name
I understand the purpose of __init__, but is it advisable to declare variable in any other functions?
- How can I create a variable to hold a custom type?
class writer:
path = "" # string value
customObj = ??
Answers:
Variables have scope, so yes it is appropriate to have variables that are specific to your function. You don’t always have to be explicit about their definition; usually you can just use them. Only if you want to do something specific to the type of the variable, like append for a list, do you need to define them before you start using them. Typical example of this.
list = []
for i in stuff:
list.append(i)
By the way, this is not really a good way to setup the list. It would be better to say:
list = [i for i in stuff] # list comprehension
…but I digress.
Your other question.
The custom object should be a class itself.
class CustomObject(): # always capitalize the class name...this is not syntax, just style.
pass
customObj = CustomObject()
There’s no need to declare new variables in Python. If we’re talking about variables in functions or modules, no declaration is needed. Just assign a value to a name where you need it: mymagic = "Magic". Variables in Python can hold values of any type, and you can’t restrict that.
Your question specifically asks about classes, objects and instance variables though. The idiomatic way to create instance variables is in the __init__ method and nowhere else — while you could create new instance variables in other methods, or even in unrelated code, it’s just a bad idea. It’ll make your code hard to reason about or to maintain.
So for example:
class Thing(object):
def __init__(self, magic):
self.magic = magic
Easy. Now instances of this class have a magic attribute:
thingo = Thing("More magic")
# thingo.magic is now "More magic"
Creating variables in the namespace of the class itself leads to different behaviour altogether. It is functionally different, and you should only do it if you have a specific reason to. For example:
class Thing(object):
magic = "Magic"
def __init__(self):
pass
Now try:
thingo = Thing()
Thing.magic = 1
# thingo.magic is now 1
Or:
class Thing(object):
magic = ["More", "magic"]
def __init__(self):
pass
thing1 = Thing()
thing2 = Thing()
thing1.magic.append("here")
# thing1.magic AND thing2.magic is now ["More", "magic", "here"]
This is because the namespace of the class itself is different to the namespace of the objects created from it. I’ll leave it to you to research that a bit more.
The take-home message is that idiomatic Python is to (a) initialise object attributes in your __init__ method, and (b) document the behaviour of your class as needed. You don’t need to go to the trouble of full-blown Sphinx-level documentation for everything you ever write, but at least some comments about whatever details you or someone else might need to pick it up.
Okay, first things first.
There is no such thing as “variable declaration” or “variable initialization” in Python.
There is simply what we call “assignment”, but should probably just call “naming”.
Assignment means “this name on the left-hand side now refers to the result of evaluating the right-hand side, regardless of what it referred to before (if anything)”.
foo = 'bar' # the name 'foo' is now a name for the string 'bar'
foo = 2 * 3 # the name 'foo' stops being a name for the string 'bar',
# and starts being a name for the integer 6, resulting from the multiplication
As such, Python’s names (a better term than “variables”, arguably) don’t have associated types; the values do. You can re-apply the same name to anything regardless of its type, but the thing still has behaviour that’s dependent upon its type. The name is simply a way to refer to the value (object). This answers your second question: You don’t create variables to hold a custom type. You don’t create variables to hold any particular type. You don’t “create” variables at all. You give names to objects.
Second point: Python follows a very simple rule when it comes to classes, that is actually much more consistent than what languages like Java, C++ and C# do: everything declared inside the class block is part of the class. So, functions (def) written here are methods, i.e. part of the class object (not stored on a per-instance basis), just like in Java, C++ and C#; but other names here are also part of the class. Again, the names are just names, and they don’t have associated types, and functions are objects too in Python. Thus:
class Example:
data = 42
def method(self): pass
Classes are objects too, in Python.
So now we have created an object named Example, which represents the class of all things that are Examples. This object has two user-supplied attributes (In C++, “members”; in C#, “fields or properties or methods”; in Java, “fields or methods”). One of them is named data, and it stores the integer value 42. The other is named method, and it stores a function object. (There are several more attributes that Python adds automatically.)
These attributes still aren’t really part of the object, though. Fundamentally, an object is just a bundle of more names (the attribute names), until you get down to things that can’t be divided up any more. Thus, values can be shared between different instances of a class, or even between objects of different classes, if you deliberately set that up.
Let’s create an instance:
x = Example()
Now we have a separate object named x, which is an instance of Example. The data and method are not actually part of the object, but we can still look them up via x because of some magic that Python does behind the scenes. When we look up method, in particular, we will instead get a “bound method” (when we call it, x gets passed automatically as the self parameter, which cannot happen if we look up Example.method directly).
What happens when we try to use x.data?
When we examine it, it’s looked up in the object first. If it’s not found in the object, Python looks in the class.
However, when we assign to x.data, Python will create an attribute on the object. It will not replace the class’ attribute.
This allows us to do object initialization. Python will automatically call the class’ __init__ method on new instances when they are created, if present. In this method, we can simply assign to attributes to set initial values for that attribute on each object:
class Example:
name = "Ignored"
def __init__(self, name):
self.name = name
# rest as before
Now we must specify a name when we create an Example, and each instance has its own name. Python will ignore the class attribute Example.name whenever we look up the .name of an instance, because the instance’s attribute will be found first.
One last caveat: modification (mutation) and assignment are different things!
In Python, strings are immutable. They cannot be modified. When you do:
a = 'hi '
b = a
a += 'mom'
You do not change the original ‘hi ‘ string. That is impossible in Python. Instead, you create a new string 'hi mom', and cause a to stop being a name for 'hi ', and start being a name for 'hi mom' instead. We made b a name for 'hi ' as well, and after re-applying the a name, b is still a name for 'hi ', because 'hi ' still exists and has not been changed.
But lists can be changed:
a = [1, 2, 3]
b = a
a += [4]
Now b is [1, 2, 3, 4] as well, because we made b a name for the same thing that a named, and then we changed that thing. We did not create a new list for a to name, because Python simply treats += differently for lists.
This matters for objects because if you had a list as a class attribute, and used an instance to modify the list, then the change would be “seen” in all other instances. This is because (a) the data is actually part of the class object, and not any instance object; (b) because you were modifying the list and not doing a simple assignment, you did not create a new instance attribute hiding the class attribute.
For scoping purpose, I use:
custom_object = None
This might be 6 years late, but in Python 3.5 and above, you can give a hint about a variable type like this:
variable_name: type_name
or this:
variable_name # type: shinyType
This hint has no effect in the core Python interpreter, but many tools will use it to aid the programmer in writing correct code.
So in your case(if you have a CustomObject class defined), you can do:
customObj: CustomObject
As of Python 3, you can explicitly declare variables by type.
For instance, to declare an integer one can do it as follows:
x: int = 3
or:
def f(x: int):
return x
see this question for more detailed info about it:
Explicitly declaring a variable type in Python
I want to clarify how variables are declared in Python.
- I have seen variable declaration as
class writer:
path = ""
sometimes, there is no explicit declaration but just initialization using __init__:
def __init__(self, name):
self.name = name
I understand the purpose of __init__, but is it advisable to declare variable in any other functions?
- How can I create a variable to hold a custom type?
class writer:
path = "" # string value
customObj = ??
Variables have scope, so yes it is appropriate to have variables that are specific to your function. You don’t always have to be explicit about their definition; usually you can just use them. Only if you want to do something specific to the type of the variable, like append for a list, do you need to define them before you start using them. Typical example of this.
list = []
for i in stuff:
list.append(i)
By the way, this is not really a good way to setup the list. It would be better to say:
list = [i for i in stuff] # list comprehension
…but I digress.
Your other question.
The custom object should be a class itself.
class CustomObject(): # always capitalize the class name...this is not syntax, just style.
pass
customObj = CustomObject()
There’s no need to declare new variables in Python. If we’re talking about variables in functions or modules, no declaration is needed. Just assign a value to a name where you need it: mymagic = "Magic". Variables in Python can hold values of any type, and you can’t restrict that.
Your question specifically asks about classes, objects and instance variables though. The idiomatic way to create instance variables is in the __init__ method and nowhere else — while you could create new instance variables in other methods, or even in unrelated code, it’s just a bad idea. It’ll make your code hard to reason about or to maintain.
So for example:
class Thing(object):
def __init__(self, magic):
self.magic = magic
Easy. Now instances of this class have a magic attribute:
thingo = Thing("More magic")
# thingo.magic is now "More magic"
Creating variables in the namespace of the class itself leads to different behaviour altogether. It is functionally different, and you should only do it if you have a specific reason to. For example:
class Thing(object):
magic = "Magic"
def __init__(self):
pass
Now try:
thingo = Thing()
Thing.magic = 1
# thingo.magic is now 1
Or:
class Thing(object):
magic = ["More", "magic"]
def __init__(self):
pass
thing1 = Thing()
thing2 = Thing()
thing1.magic.append("here")
# thing1.magic AND thing2.magic is now ["More", "magic", "here"]
This is because the namespace of the class itself is different to the namespace of the objects created from it. I’ll leave it to you to research that a bit more.
The take-home message is that idiomatic Python is to (a) initialise object attributes in your __init__ method, and (b) document the behaviour of your class as needed. You don’t need to go to the trouble of full-blown Sphinx-level documentation for everything you ever write, but at least some comments about whatever details you or someone else might need to pick it up.
Okay, first things first.
There is no such thing as “variable declaration” or “variable initialization” in Python.
There is simply what we call “assignment”, but should probably just call “naming”.
Assignment means “this name on the left-hand side now refers to the result of evaluating the right-hand side, regardless of what it referred to before (if anything)”.
foo = 'bar' # the name 'foo' is now a name for the string 'bar'
foo = 2 * 3 # the name 'foo' stops being a name for the string 'bar',
# and starts being a name for the integer 6, resulting from the multiplication
As such, Python’s names (a better term than “variables”, arguably) don’t have associated types; the values do. You can re-apply the same name to anything regardless of its type, but the thing still has behaviour that’s dependent upon its type. The name is simply a way to refer to the value (object). This answers your second question: You don’t create variables to hold a custom type. You don’t create variables to hold any particular type. You don’t “create” variables at all. You give names to objects.
Second point: Python follows a very simple rule when it comes to classes, that is actually much more consistent than what languages like Java, C++ and C# do: everything declared inside the class block is part of the class. So, functions (def) written here are methods, i.e. part of the class object (not stored on a per-instance basis), just like in Java, C++ and C#; but other names here are also part of the class. Again, the names are just names, and they don’t have associated types, and functions are objects too in Python. Thus:
class Example:
data = 42
def method(self): pass
Classes are objects too, in Python.
So now we have created an object named Example, which represents the class of all things that are Examples. This object has two user-supplied attributes (In C++, “members”; in C#, “fields or properties or methods”; in Java, “fields or methods”). One of them is named data, and it stores the integer value 42. The other is named method, and it stores a function object. (There are several more attributes that Python adds automatically.)
These attributes still aren’t really part of the object, though. Fundamentally, an object is just a bundle of more names (the attribute names), until you get down to things that can’t be divided up any more. Thus, values can be shared between different instances of a class, or even between objects of different classes, if you deliberately set that up.
Let’s create an instance:
x = Example()
Now we have a separate object named x, which is an instance of Example. The data and method are not actually part of the object, but we can still look them up via x because of some magic that Python does behind the scenes. When we look up method, in particular, we will instead get a “bound method” (when we call it, x gets passed automatically as the self parameter, which cannot happen if we look up Example.method directly).
What happens when we try to use x.data?
When we examine it, it’s looked up in the object first. If it’s not found in the object, Python looks in the class.
However, when we assign to x.data, Python will create an attribute on the object. It will not replace the class’ attribute.
This allows us to do object initialization. Python will automatically call the class’ __init__ method on new instances when they are created, if present. In this method, we can simply assign to attributes to set initial values for that attribute on each object:
class Example:
name = "Ignored"
def __init__(self, name):
self.name = name
# rest as before
Now we must specify a name when we create an Example, and each instance has its own name. Python will ignore the class attribute Example.name whenever we look up the .name of an instance, because the instance’s attribute will be found first.
One last caveat: modification (mutation) and assignment are different things!
In Python, strings are immutable. They cannot be modified. When you do:
a = 'hi '
b = a
a += 'mom'
You do not change the original ‘hi ‘ string. That is impossible in Python. Instead, you create a new string 'hi mom', and cause a to stop being a name for 'hi ', and start being a name for 'hi mom' instead. We made b a name for 'hi ' as well, and after re-applying the a name, b is still a name for 'hi ', because 'hi ' still exists and has not been changed.
But lists can be changed:
a = [1, 2, 3]
b = a
a += [4]
Now b is [1, 2, 3, 4] as well, because we made b a name for the same thing that a named, and then we changed that thing. We did not create a new list for a to name, because Python simply treats += differently for lists.
This matters for objects because if you had a list as a class attribute, and used an instance to modify the list, then the change would be “seen” in all other instances. This is because (a) the data is actually part of the class object, and not any instance object; (b) because you were modifying the list and not doing a simple assignment, you did not create a new instance attribute hiding the class attribute.
For scoping purpose, I use:
custom_object = None
This might be 6 years late, but in Python 3.5 and above, you can give a hint about a variable type like this:
variable_name: type_name
or this:
variable_name # type: shinyType
This hint has no effect in the core Python interpreter, but many tools will use it to aid the programmer in writing correct code.
So in your case(if you have a CustomObject class defined), you can do:
customObj: CustomObject
As of Python 3, you can explicitly declare variables by type.
For instance, to declare an integer one can do it as follows:
x: int = 3
or:
def f(x: int):
return x
see this question for more detailed info about it:
Explicitly declaring a variable type in Python