Key Concepts

Review core concepts you need to learn to master this subject

Python repr method

Python class methods

Instantiate Python Class

Python Class Variables

Python init method

Python type() function

Python class

Python dir() function

See more

Python repr method

class Employee:
  def __init__(self, name):
    self.name = name

  def __repr__(self):
    return self.name

john = Employee('John')
print(john) # John

The Python __repr__() method is used to tell Python what the string representation of the class should be. It can only have one parameter, self, and it should return a string.

Introduction to Classes
Lesson 1 of 1
  1. 1
    Types
    Python equips us with many different ways to store data. A float is a different kind of number from an int, and we store different data in a list than we do in a dict. These are known as different …
    Start
  2. 2
    Class
    A class is a template for a data type. It describes the kinds of information that class will hold and how a programmer will interact with that data. Define a class using the class keyword. [PEP 8…
    Start
  3. 3
    Instantiation
    A class doesn’t accomplish anything simply by being defined. A class must be instantiated. In other words, we must create an instance of the class, in order to breathe life into the schematic. …
    Start
  4. 4
    Object-Oriented Programming
    A class instance is also called an object. The pattern of defining classes and creating objects to represent the responsibilities of a program is known as Object Oriented Programming or OOP. I…
    Start
  5. 5
    Class Variables
    When we want the same data to be available to every instance of a class we use a class variable. A class variable is a variable that’s the same for every instance of the class. You can define a…
    Start
  6. 6
    Methods
    Methods are functions that are defined as part of a class. The first argument in a method is always the object that is calling the method. Convention recommends that we name this first argument s…
    Start
  7. 7
    Methods with Arguments
    Methods can also take more arguments than just self: class DistanceConverter: kms_in_a_mile = 1.609 def how_many_kms(self, miles): return miles * self.kms_in_a_mile converter = DistanceCo…
    Start
  8. 8
    Constructors
    There are several methods that we can define in a Python class that have special behavior. These methods are sometimes called “magic,” because they behave differently from regular methods. Another …
    Start
  9. 9
    Instance Variables
    We’ve learned so far that a class is a schematic for a data type and an object is an instance of a class, but why is there such a strong need to differentiate the two if each object can only have t…
    Start
  10. 10
    Attribute Functions
    Instance variables and class variables are both accessed similarly in Python. This is no mistake, they are both considered attributes of an object. If we attempt to access an attribute that is ne…
    Start
  11. 11
    Self
    Since we can already use dictionaries to store key-value pairs, using objects for that purpose is not really useful. Instance variables are more powerful when you can guarantee a rigidity to the da…
    Start
  12. 12
    Everything is an Object
    Attributes can be added to user-defined objects after instantiation, so it’s possible for an object to have some attributes that are not explicitly defined in an object’s constructor. We can use th…
    Start
  13. 13
    String Representation
    One of the first things we learn as programmers is how to print out information that we need for debugging. Unfortunately, when we print out an object we get a default representation that seems fai…
    Start
  14. 14
    Review
    So far we’ve covered what a data type actually is in Python. We explored what the functionality of Python’s built-in types (also referred to as primitives) are. We learned how to create our own d…
    Start