How does polymorphism work in Python?

Question

I’m new to Python… and coming from a mostly Java background, if that accounts for anything.

I’m trying to understand polymorphism in Python. Maybe the problem is that I’m expecting the concepts I already know to project into Python. But I put together the following test code:

class animal(object):
    "empty animal class"

class dog(animal):
    "empty dog class"

myDog = dog()
print myDog.__class__ is animal
print myDog.__class__ is dog

From the polymorphism I’m used to (e.g. java’s instanceof), I would expect both of these statements to print true, as an instance of dog is an animal and also is a dog. But my output is:

False
True

What am I missing?

Asked By: froadie

||

Source

Answer 1

The is operator in Python checks that the two arguments refer to the same object in memory; it is not like the is operator in C#.

From the docs:

The operators is and is not test for object identity: x is y is true if and only if x and y are the same object. x is not y yields the inverse truth value.

What you’re looking for in this case is isinstance.

Return true if the object argument is an instance of the classinfo argument, or of a (direct or indirect) subclass thereof.

>>> class animal(object): pass

>>> class dog(animal): pass

>>> myDog = dog()
>>> isinstance(myDog, dog)
True
>>> isinstance(myDog, animal)
True

However, idiomatic Python dictates that you (almost) never do type-checking, but instead rely on duck-typing for polymorphic behavior. There’s nothing wrong with using isinstance to understand inheritance, but it should generally be avoided in “production” code.

Answered By: Mark Rushakoff

Answer 2

Try isinstance(myDog, dog) resp. isinstance(myDog, animal).

Answered By: phimuemue

Answer 3

phimuemue and Mark have answered your question. But this is ALSO an example of polymorphism in Python, but it’s not as explicit as your inheritance based example.

class wolf(object): 
    def bark(self):
        print "hooooowll"

class dog(object): 
    def bark(self):
        print "woof"


def barkforme(dogtype):
    dogtype.bark()


my_dog = dog()
my_wolf = wolf()
barkforme(my_dog)
barkforme(my_wolf)

Answered By: Pod

Answer 4

just nice example how it is possible to use same field of 2 totally different classes. It is more close to template.

class A:
    def __init__(self, arg = "3"):
        self.f = arg
a = A()
a.f # prints 3
class B:
    def __init__(self, arg = "5"):
        self.f = arg
b = B()
b.f # prints 5


def modify_if_different(s,t, field):
    if s.__dict__[field] != t.__dict__[field]:
        t.__dict__[field]  = s.__dict__[field]
    else:
        s.__dict__[field]  = None

modify_if_different(a,b,"f")
b.f # prints 3
a.f # prints 3

Answered By: Michael Yuniverg

How does polymorphism work in Python?

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