OBJECT

ORIENTED
PROGRAMMING

6.00.01X LECTURE 1
OBJECTS
 Python supports many different kinds of data
1234 3.14159 "Hello" [1, 5, 7, 11, 13]
{"CA": "California", "MA": "Massachusetts"}
 each is an instance of an object, and every object has:
• a type
• an internal data representation (primitive or composite)
• a set of procedures for interaction with the object
 each instance is a particular type of object
• 1234 is an instance of an int
• a = "hello"
a is an instance of a string

6.00.01X LECTURE 2
OBJECT ORIENTED
PROGRAMMING (OOP)
 everything in Python is an object and has a type
 objects are a data abstraction that capture:
• internal representation through data attributes
• interface for interacting with object through methods
(procedures), defines behaviors but hides implementation
 can create new instances of objects
 can destroy objects
• explicitly using del or just “forget” about them
• Python system will reclaim destroyed or inaccessible
objects – called “garbage collection”

6.00.01X LECTURE 3
STANDARD DATA OBJECTS
 some object types built in to Python
• lists – [1, 2, 3, 4]
• tuples – (1, 2, 3, 4)
• strings – ‘abcd’
 want to explore ability to create our own data object
types

6.00.01X LECTURE 4
EXAMPLE: [1,2,3,4]
 [1,2,3,4] is of type list
 how are lists represented internally? linked list of cells
L = 1 -> 2 -> 3 -> 4 ->

 how to manipulate lists?

• L[i], L[i:j], L[i,j,k], +
• len(), min(), max(), del(L[i])
• L.append(),L.extend(),L.count(),L.index(),
L.insert(),L.pop(),L.remove(),L.reverse(), L.sort()

 internal representation should be private

 correct behavior may be compromised if you manipulate
internal representation directly – use defined interfaces
6.00.01X LECTURE 5
Implementing the class Using the class

CREATING AND USING YOUR

OWN OBJECTS WITH CLASSES
 make a distinction between creating a class and
using an instance of the class
 creating the class involves
• defining the class name
• defining class attributes
• for example, someone wrote code to implement a list class
 using the class involves
• creating new instances of objects
• doing operations on the instances
• for example, L=[1,2] and len(L)

6.00.01X LECTURE 6
ADVANTAGES OF OOP
 bundle data into packages together with procedures
that work on them through well-defined interfaces
 divide-and-conquer development
• implement and test behavior of each class separately
• increased modularity reduces complexity
 classes make it easy to reuse code
• many Python modules define new classes
• each class has a separate environment (no collision on
function names)
• inheritance allows subclasses to redefine or extend a
selected subset of a superclass’ behavior

6.00.01X LECTURE 7
6.00.01X LECTURE 8
Implementing the class Using the class

DEFINE YOUR OWN TYPES

 use the class keyword to define a new type

class Coordinate(object):
<define attributes here>
 similar to def, indent code to indicate which statements
are part of the class definition
 the word object means that Coordinate is a Python
object and inherits all its attributes (coming soon)
• Coordinate is a subclass of object
• object is a superclass of Coordinate

6.00.01X LECTURE 9
WHAT ARE ATTRIBUTES?
 data and procedures that “belong” to the class
• data attributes
• think of data as other objects that make up the class
• for example, a coordinate is made up of two numbers
• procedural attributes (methods)
• think of methods as functions that only work with this class
• for example you can define a distance between two
coordinate objects but there is no meaning to a distance
between two list objects

6.00.01X LECTURE 10
Implementing the class Using the class

DEFINING HOW TO CREATE AN

INSTANCE OF A CLASS
 first have to define how to create an instance of
object
 use a special method called __init__ to
initialize some data attributes
class Coordinate(object):
def __init__(self, x, y):
self.x = x
self.y = y

6.00.01X LECTURE 11
Implementing the class Using the class

ACTUALLY CREATING AN
INSTANCE OF A CLASS
c = Coordinate(3,4)
origin = Coordinate(0,0)
print(c.x)
print(origin.x)

 data attributes of an instance are called instance

variables
 don’t provide argument for self, Python does this
automatically

6.00.01X LECTURE 12
Implementing the class Using the class

ACTUALLY CREATING AN
INSTANCE OF A CLASS
c = Coordinate(3,4)
origin = Coordinate(0,0)
print(c.x)
print(origin.x)
 think of c as pointing to a frame (like we saw with
function calls)
• within the scope of that frame we bound values to data
attribute variables
• c.x is interpreted as getting the value of c (a frame) and
then looking up the value associate with x within that frame
(thus the specific value for this instance)

6.00.01X LECTURE 13
6.00.01X LECTURE 14
WHAT IS A METHOD?
 procedural attribute, like a function that works only
with this class
 Python always passes the actual object as the first
argument, convention is to use self as the name of the
first argument of all methods
 the “.” operator is used to access any attribute
• a data attribute of an object
• a method of an object

6.00.01X LECTURE 15
Implementing the class Using the class

DEFINE A METHOD FOR THE

Coordinate CLASS
class Coordinate(object):
def __init__(self, x, y):
self.x = x
self.y = y
def distance(self, other):
x_diff_sq = (self.x-other.x)**2
y_diff_sq = (self.y-other.y)**2
return (x_diff_sq + y_diff_sq)**0.5

 other than self and dot notation, methods behave just

like functions (take params, do operations, return value)

6.00.01X LECTURE 16
Implementing the class Using the class

HOW TO USE A METHOD FROM

THE Coordinate CLASS
def distance(self, other)

 conventional way  equivalent to

c = Coordinate(3,4) c = Coordinate(3,4)
origin = Coordinate(0,0) origin = Coordinate(0,0)
print(c.distance(origin)) print(Coordinate.distance(c, origin))

6.00.01X LECTURE 17
Implementing the class Using the class

HOW TO USE A METHOD FROM

THE Coordinate CLASS
def distance(self, other)

 conventional way  equivalent to

c = Coordinate(3,4) c = Coordinate(3,4)
origin = Coordinate(0,0) origin = Coordinate(0,0)
print(c.distance(origin)) print(Coordinate.distance(c, origin))

• think of Coordinate as pointing to a frame

• within the scope of that frame we created methods
• Coordinate.distance gets the value of Coordinate (a frame), then looks up
the value associated with distance (a procedure), then invokes it (which requires two
arguments)
• c.distance inherits the distance from the class definition, an automatically uses
c as the first argument
6.00.01X LECTURE 18
PRINT REPRESENTATION OF
AN OBJECT
In [1]: c = Coordinate(3,4)
In [2]: print(c)
<__main__.Coordinate object at 0x7fa918510488>
 uninformative print representation by default
 define a __str__ method for a class
 Python calls the __str__ method when used with
print on your class object
 you choose what it does! Say that when we print a
Coordinate object, want to show
In [3]: print(c)
<3,4>
6.00.01X LECTURE 19
Implementing the class Using the class

DEFINING YOUR OWN PRINT

METHOD
class Coordinate(object):
def __init__(self, x, y):
self.x = x
self.y = y
def distance(self, other):
x_diff_sq = (self.x-other.x)**2
y_diff_sq = (self.y-other.y)**2
return (x_diff_sq + y_diff_sq)**0.5
def __str__(self):
return "<" + str(self.x) + "," + str(self.y) + ">"

6.00.01X LECTURE 20
Implementing the class Using the class

WRAPPING YOUR HEAD

AROUND TYPES AND CLASSES
 can ask for the type of an object instance
In [4]: c = Coordinate(3,4)
In [5]: print(c)
<3,4>
In [6]: print(type(c))
<class __main__.Coordinate>
 this makes sense since
In [7]: print(Coordinate, type(Coordinate))
<class __main__.Coordinate> <type 'type'>

 use isinstance() to check if an object is a Coordinate

In [8]: print(isinstance(c, Coordinate))
True

6.00.01X LECTURE 21
SPECIAL OPERATORS
 +, -, ==, <, >, len(), print, and many others
https://docs.python.org/3/reference/datamodel.html#basic-customization

 like print, can override these to work with your class

 define them with double underscores before/after
__add__(self, other)  self + other
__sub__(self, other)  self - other
__eq__(self, other)  self == other
__lt__(self, other)  self < other
__len__(self)  len(self)
__str__(self)  print(self)
... and others

6.00.01X LECTURE 22
6.00.01X LECTURE 23
EXAMPLE: FRACTIONS
 create a new type to represent a number as a fraction
 internal representation is two integers
• numerator
• denominator
 interface a.k.a. methods a.k.a how to interact with
Fraction objects
• print representation
• add, subtract
• convert to a float

6.00.01X LECTURE 24
Implementing the class Using the class

INITIAL FRACTION CLASS

class fraction(object):
def __init__(self, numer, denom):
self.numer = numer
self.denom = denom
def __str__(self):
return str(self.numer) + ' / ' + str(self.denom)

6.00.01X LECTURE 25
Implementing the class Using the class

INITIAL FRACTION CLASS

In [9]: oneHalf = fraction(1,2)

In [10]: twoThirds = fraction(2,3)

In [11]: print(oneHalf)
1 / 2

In [12]: print(twoThirds)
2 / 3

6.00.01X LECTURE 26
Implementing the class Using the class

ACCESSING DATA ATTRIBUTES

class fraction(object):
def __init__(self, numer, denom):
self.numer = numer
self.denom = denom
def __str__(self):
return str(self.numer) + ' / ' + str(self.denom)
def getNumer(self):
return self.numer
def getDenom(self):
return self.denom

6.00.01X LECTURE 27
Implementing the class Using the class

ACCESSING DATA ATTRIBUTES

In [9]: oneHalf = fraction(1,2)

In [10]: twoThirds = fraction(2,3)

In [13]: oneHalf.getNumer()
Out[13]: 1

In [14]: fraction.getDenom(twoThirds)
Out[14]: 3

6.00.01X LECTURE 28
Implementing the class Using the class

ADDING METHODS
class fraction(object):
def __init__(self, numer, denom):
self.numer = numer
self.denom = denom
def __str__(self):
return str(self.numer) + ' / ' + str(self.denom)
def getNumer(self):
return self.numer
def getDenom(self):
return self.denom
def __add__(self, other):
numerNew = other.getDenon() * self.getNumer() \
+ other.getNumER() * self.getDenom()
denomNew = other.getDenom() * self.getDenom()
return fraction(numerNew, denomNew)
def __sub__(self, other):
numerNew = other.getDenom() * self.getNumer() \
- other.getNumer() * self.getDenom()
denomNew = other.getDenom() * self.getDenom()
return fraction(numerNew, denomNew)

6.00.01X LECTURE 29
Implementing the class Using the class

ADDING METHODS
In [9]: oneHalf = fraction(1,2)

In [10]: twoThirds = fraction(2,3)

In [15]: new = oneHalf + twoThirds

In [16]: print(new)
7 / 6

6.00.01X LECTURE 30
Implementing the class Using the class

ADDING MORE METHODS

class fraction(object):
def __init__(self, numer, denom):
self.numer = numer
self.denom = denom
def __str__(self):
return str(self.numer) + ' / ' + str(self.denom)
def getNumer(self):
return self.numer
def getDenom(self):
return self.denom
def __add__(self, other):
numerNew = other.getDenon() * self.getNumer() \
+ other.getNumER() * self.getDenom()
denomNew = other.getDenom() * self.getDenom()
return fraction(numerNew, denomNew)
def __sub__(self, other):
numerNew = other.getDenom() * self.getNumer()\
- other.getNumer() * self.getDenom()
denomNew = other.getDenom() * self.getDenom()
return fraction(numerNew, denomNew)
def convert(self):
return self.getNumer() / self.getDenom()
6.00.01X LECTURE 31
Implementing the class Using the class

ADDING MORE METHODS

In [9]: oneHalf = fraction(1,2)

In [10]: twoThirds = fraction(2,3)

In [17]: new = oneHalf + twoThirds

In [18]: new.convert()
Out[18]: 1.1666666666666667

6.00.01X LECTURE 32
EXAMPLE: A SET OF INTEGERS
 create a new type to represent a collection of integers
• initially the set is empty
• a particular integer appears only once in a set:
representational invariant enforced by the code
 internal data representation
• use a list to store the elements of a set
 interface
insert(e) – insert integer e into set if not there
member(e) – return True if integer e is in set, False else
remove(e) – remove integer e from set, error if not present

6.00.01X LECTURE 33
Implementing the class Using the class

INTEGER SET CLASS

class intSet(object):
def __init__(self):
self.vals = []
def insert(self, e):
if not e in self.vals:
self.vals.append(e)
def member(self, e):
return e in self.vals
def remove(self, e):
try:
self.vals.remove(e)
except:
raise ValueError(str(e) + ' not found')
def __str__(self):
self.vals.sort()
result = ''
for e in self.vals:
result = result + str(e) + ','
return '{' + result[:-1] + '}'

6.00.01X LECTURE 34
Implementing the class Using the class

USING INTEGER SETS

In [19]: s = intSet()

In [20]: print(s)
{}

In [21]: s.insert(3)
In [22]: s.insert(4)
In [23]: s.insert(3)
In [24]: print(s)
{3, 4}

6.00.01X LECTURE 35
Implementing the class Using the class

USING INTEGER SETS

In [19]: s = intSet()
In [21]: s.insert(3)
In [22]: s.insert(4)
In [23]: s.insert(3)

In [25]: s.member(3)
True

In [26]: s.member(6)
False

6.00.01X LECTURE 36
Implementing the class Using the class

USING INTEGER SETS

In [19]: s = intSet()
In [21]: s.insert(3)
In [22]: s.insert(4)
In [23]: s.insert(3)

In [27]: s.remove(3)
In [28]: s.insert(6)

In [29]: print(s)
{4,6}

6.00.01X LECTURE 37
Implementing the class Using the class

USING INTEGER SETS

In [19]: s = intSet()
In [21]: s.insert(3)
In [22]: s.insert(4)
In [23]: s.insert(3)
In [27]: s.remove(3)
In [28]: s.insert(6)

In [30]: s.remove(3)
ValueError: 3 not found

6.00.01X LECTURE 38
6.00.01X LECTURE 39
THE POWER OF OOP
 bundle together objects that share
• common attributes and
• procedures that operate on those attributes
 use abstraction to make a distinction between how to
implement an object vs how to use the object
 build layers of object abstractions that inherit
behaviors from other classes of objects
 create our own classes of objects on top of Python’s
basic classes

6.00.01X LECTURE 40
IMPLEMENTING USING
THE CLASS vs THE CLASS
 write code from two different perspectives
 all class examples we saw so far were numerical

implementing a new using the new object type in

object type with a class code
• define the class • create instances of the
• define data attributes object type
(what IS the object) • do operations with them
• define methods
(HOW to use the object)

6.00.01X LECTURE 41
CLASS DEFINITION INSTANCE
OF AN OBJECT TYPE vs OF A CLASS
 class is the type  instance is one
• a Coordinate type particular object
• mycoo = Coordinate(1,2)
• class Coordinate(object):
 data values vary
 class is defined generically between instances
• use self to refer to any • c1 = Coordinate(1,2)
instance while defining the • c2 = Coordinate(3,4)
class • C1and c2 have different
data values because they
 class defines data and are different objects
methods common across
all instances  instance has the
structure of the class

6.00.01X LECTURE 42
WHY USE OOP AND
CLASSES OF OBJECTS?
• mimic real life
• group different objects as part of the same type

6.00.01X LECTURE 43
WHY USE OOP AND
CLASSES OF OBJECTS?
• mimic real life
• group different objects as part of the same type

6.00.01X LECTURE 44
GROUPS OF OBJECTS HAVE
ATTRIBUTES
 data attributes
• how can you represent your object with data?
• what it is
• <for a coordinate: x and y values>
• <for an animal: age, name>
 procedural attributes (behavior/operations/methods)
• what kinds of things can you do with the object?
• what it does
• <for a coordinate: find distance between two>
• <for an animal: make a sound>

6.00.01X LECTURE 45
DEFINING A CLASS (Recap)

class Animal(object):
def __init__(self, age):
self.age = age
self.name = None

myanimal = Animal(3)

6.00.01X LECTURE 46
GETTER AND SETTER
METHODS
class Animal(object):
def __init__(self, age):
self.age = age
self.name = None
def get_age(self):
return self.age
def get_name(self):
return self.name
def set_age(self, newage):
self.age = newage
def set_name(self, newname=""):
self.name = newname
def __str__(self):
return "animal:"+str(self.name)+":"+str(self.age)
 getters and setters should be used outside of class to
access data attributes
6.00.01X LECTURE 47
AN INSTANCE and
DOT NOTATION (Recap)
 instantiation creates an instance of an object
a = Animal(3)
 dot notation used to access attributes (data and
methods) though it is better to use getters and setters
to access data attributes
a.age
a.get_age()

6.00.01X LECTURE 48
INFORMATION HIDING
 author of class definition may change data attribute
variable names
class Animal(object):
def __init__(self, age):
self.years = age
def get_age(self):
return self.years
 if you are accessing data attributes outside the class and
class definition changes, may get errors
 outside of class, use getters and setters instead
use a.get_age() NOT a.age
• good style
• easy to maintain code
• prevents bugs
6.00.01X LECTURE 49
PYTHON NOT GREAT AT
INFORMATION HIDING
 allows you to access data from outside class definition
print(a.age)
 allows you to write to data from outside class definition
a.age = 'infinite'
 allows you to create data attributes for an instance from
outside class definition
a.size = "tiny"

 it’s not good style to do any of these!

6.00.01X LECTURE 50
self AND OTHER ARGS
 self determined from instance, passed in as argument
• for the method: def __init__(self, age)
• creates self, passes it in automatically as argument
a = Animal(3)
• for the method: def get_age(self)
• call method with a.get_age()
• or an alternate way Animal.get_age(a)

 default arguments for formal parameters are used if no

actual argument is given
• for the method: def set_name(self, newname="")
• default argument used here a.set_name()
• argument passed is used here a.set_name("fluffy")

6.00.01X LECTURE 51
6.00.01X LECTURE 52
HIERARCHIES

6.00.01X LECTURE 53
HIERARCHIES
 parent class
(superclass) Animal
 child class
(subclass)
• inherits all data Person Cat Rabbit
and behaviors of
parent class
• add more info
• add more behavior Student
• override behavior

6.00.01X LECTURE 54
INHERITANCE
class Animal(object):
def __init__(self, age):
self.age = age
self.name = None
def get_age(self):
return self.age
def get_name(self):
return self.name
def set_age(self, newage):
self.age = newage
def set_name(self, newname=""):
self.name = newname
def __str__(self):
return "animal:"+str(self.name)+":"+str(self.age)

6.00.01X LECTURE 55
INHERITANCE
class Cat(Animal):
def speak(self):
print("meow”)
def __str__(self):
return "cat:"+str(self.name)+":"+str(self.age)

 add new functionality with speak()

• instance of type Cat can be called with new methods
• instance of type Animal throws error if called with new
methods
 __init__ is not missing, uses the Animal version
6.00.01X LECTURE 56
USING THE HIERARCHY
In [31]: jelly = Cat(1)
In [32]: jelly.set_name('JellyBelly')
In [33]: print(jelly)
cat:JellyBelly:1

In [34]: print(Animal.__str__(jelly)
Animal:JellyBelly:1

In [35]: blob = Animal(1)

In [36]: print(blob)
animal:None:1

In [37]: blob.set_name()
In [38]: print(blob)
animal::1

6.00.01X LECTURE 57
INHERITANCE
class Cat(Animal):
def speak(self):
print("meow”)
def __str__(self):
return "cat:"+str(self.name)+":"+str(self.age)

class Rabbit(Animal):
def speak(self):
print(”meep”)
def __str__(self):
return ”rabbit:"+str(self.name)+":"+str(self.age)

6.00.01X LECTURE 58
USING THE HIERARCHY
In [31]: jelly = Cat(1)
In [34]: blob = Animal(1)
In [38]: peter = Rabbit(5)
In [39]: jelly.speak()
meow

In [40]: peter.speak()
meep

In [41]: blob.speak()
AttributeError: 'Animal' object has no
attribute 'speak'

6.00.01X LECTURE 59
WHICH METHOD TO USE?
• subclass can have methods with same name as
superclass
• subclass can have methods with same name as other
subclasses
• for an instance of a class, look for a method name in
current class definition
• if not found, look for method name up the hierarchy
(in parent, then grandparent, and so on)
• use first method up the hierarchy that you found with
that method name

6.00.01X LECTURE 60
class Person(Animal):
def __init__(self, name, age):
Animal.__init__(self, age)
Animal.set_name(self, name)
self.friends = []
def get_friends(self):
return self.friends
def add_friend(self, fname):
if fname not in self.friends:
self.friends.append(fname)
def speak(self):
print("hello”)
def age_diff(self, other):
# alternate way: diff = self.age - other.age
diff = self.get_age() - other.get_age()
if self.age > other.age:
print(self.name, "is", diff, "years older than", other.name)
else:
print(self.name, "is", -diff, "years younger than", other.name)
def __str__(self):
return "person:"+str(self.name)+":"+str(self.age)

6.00.01X LECTURE 61
USING THE HIERARCHY
In [42]: eric = Person(‘Eric’, 45)
In [43]: john = Person(‘John’, 55)
In [44]: eric.speak()
Hello

In [45]: eric.age_diff(john)
Eric is 10 years younger than John

In [46]: Person.age_diff(john,eric)
John is 10 years older than Eric

6.00.01X LECTURE 62
import random

class Student(Person):
def __init__(self, name, age, major=None):
Person.__init__(self, name, age)
self.major = major
def change_major(self, major):
self= major
def speak(self):
r = random.random()
if r < 0.25:
print("i have homework”)
elif 0.25 <= r < 0.5:
print("i need sleep”)
elif 0.5 <= r < 0.75:
print("i should eat”)
else:
print("i am watching tv”)
def __str__(self):
return "student:"+str(self.name)+":"+str(self.age)+":"+str(self.major)

6.00.01X LECTURE 63
USING THE HIERARCHY
In [42]: eric = Person(‘Eric’, 45)
In [47]: fred = Student(‘Fred’, 18, ‘Course VI’)
In [48]: print(fred)
student:Fred:18:Course VI

In [49]: fred.speak()
i have homework
In [50]: fred.speak()
i have homework
In [51]: fred.speak()
i am watching tv
In [52]: fred.speak()
i should eat

6.00.01X LECTURE 64
6.00.01X LECTURE 65
INSTANCE CLASS
VARIABLES vs VARIABLES
 we have seen instance  introduce class variables
variables so far in code that belong to the class
 specific to an instance  defined inside class but
 created for each outside any class methods,
instance, belongs to an outside __init__
instance  shared among all
 used the generic variable objects/instances of that
name self within the class class
definition
self.variable_name

6.00.01X LECTURE 66
RECALL THE Animal CLASS
class Animal(object):
def __init__(self, age):
self.age = age
self.name = None
def get_age(self):
return self.age
def get_name(self):
return self.name
def set_age(self, newage):
self.age = newage
def set_name(self, newname=""):
self.name = newname
def __str__(self):
return "animal:"+str(self.name)+":"+str(self.age)
6.00.01X LECTURE 67
CLASS VARIABLES AND THE
Rabbit SUBCLASS
 subclasses inherit all data attributes and methods of the
parent class
class Rabbit(Animal):
tag = 1
def __init__(self, age, parent1=None, parent2=None):
Animal.__init__(self, age)
self.parent1 = parent1
self.parent2 = parent2
self.rid = Rabbit.tag
Rabbit.tag += 1

 tag used to give unique id to each new rabbit instance

6.00.01X LECTURE 68
Rabbit GETTER METHODS
class Rabbit(Animal):
tag = 1
def __init__(self, age, parent1=None, parent2=None):
Animal.__init__(self, age)
self.parent1 = parent1
self.parent2 = parent2
self.rid = Rabbit.tag
Rabbit.tag += 1
def get_rid(self):
return str(self.rid).zfill(3)
def get_parent1(self):
return self.parent1
def get_parent2(self):
return self.parent2

6.00.01X LECTURE 69
EXAMPLE USAGE
In [53]: peter = Rabbit(2)
In [54]: peter.set_name(‘Peter’)
In [55]: hopsy = Rabbit(3)
In [56]: hopsy.set_name(‘Hopsy’)
In [57]: cotton = Rabbit(1, peter, hopsy)
In [58]: cotton.set_name(‘Cottontail’)

In [59]: print(cotton)
animal:Cottontail:1

In [60]: print(cotton.get_parent1())
animal:Peter:2

6.00.01X LECTURE 70
WORKING WITH YOUR OWN
TYPES
def __add__(self, other):
# returning object of same type as this class
return Rabbit(0, self, other)

recall Rabbit’s __init__(self, age, parent1=None, parent2=None)

 define + operator between two Rabbit instances

• define what something like this does: r4 = r1 + r2
where r1 and r2 are Rabbit instances
• r4 is a new Rabbit instance with age 0
• r4 has self as one parent and other as the other parent
• in __init__, should change to check that parent1 and
parent2 are of type Rabbit
6.00.01X LECTURE 71
EXAMPLE USAGE
In [53]: peter = Rabbit(2)
In [54]: peter.set_name(‘Peter’)
In [55]: hopsy = Rabbit(3)
In [56]: hopsy.set_name(‘Hopsy’)
In [61]: mopsy = peter + hopsy
In [62]: mopsy.set_name('Mopsy')
In [63]: print(mopsy.get_parent1())
animal:Peter:2

In [64]: print(mopsy.get_parent2())
animal:Hopsy:3

6.00.01X LECTURE 72
SPECIAL METHOD TO
COMPARE TWO Rabbits
 decide that two rabbits are equal if they have the same two
parents
def __eq__(self, other):
parents_same = self.parent1.rid == other.parent1.rid \
and self.parent2.rid == other.parent2.rid
parents_opposite = self.parent2.rid == other.parent1.rid \
and self.parent1.rid == other.parent2.rid
return parents_same or parents_opposite

 comparing ids of parents since ids are unique (due to class var)
 note that comparing objects (self.parent1==other.parent1)
will call the __eq__ method over and over until call it on None
(will get AttributeError)
6.00.01X LECTURE 73
EXAMPLE USAGE
In [53]: peter = Rabbit(2)
In [54]: peter.set_name(‘Peter’)
In [55]: hopsy = Rabbit(3)
In [56]: hopsy.set_name(‘Hopsy’)
In [57]: cotton = Rabbit(1, peter, hopsy)
In [58]: cotton.set_name(‘Cottontail’)
In [61]: mopsy = peter + hopsy
In [62]: mopsy.set_name('Mopsy')

In [65]: print(mopsy == cotton)

True

6.00.01X LECTURE 74
SUMMARY OF CLASSES & OOP
 bundle together objects that share
• common attributes and
• procedures that operate on those attributes
 use abstraction to make a distinction between how to
implement an object vs how to use the object
 build layers of object abstractions that inherit
behaviors from other classes of objects
 create our own classes of objects on top of Python’s
basic classes

6.00.01X LECTURE 75