That's the key difference between a function and a class method. A function is floating free, unencumbered. A class (instance) method has to be aware of it's parent (and parent properties) so you need to pass the method a reference to the parent class (as self). It's just one less implicit rule that you have to internalize before understanding OOP.

Feb 26, 2025 · In Python, self is used as the first parameter in instance methods to refer to the current object. It allows methods within the class to access and modify the object’s attributes, making each object independent of others.

The self Parameter. The self parameter is a reference to the current instance of the class, and is used to access variables that belongs to the class. It does not have to be named self, you can call it whatever you like, but it has to be the first parameter of any function in the class:

Oct 18, 2016 · Use self to refer to instance variables and methods from other instance methods. Also put self as the first parameter in the definition of instance methods. An example: my_var = None. def my_method(self, my_var): self.my_var = my_var. self.my_other_method() def my_other_method(self): # do something... So "class MyClass (object)" is a constructor?

Sep 5, 2019 · Python self variable is used to bind the instance of the class to the instance method. We have to explicitly declare it as the first method argument to access the instance variables and methods. This variable is used only with the instance methods.

self is an argument passed in to the function. In Python, this first argument is implicitly the object that the method was invoked on. In other words: class Bar(object): def someMethod(self): return self.field bar = Bar() bar.someMethod() Bar.someMethod(bar) These last two lines have equivalent behavior.

Dec 11, 2024 · Unlike some other programming languages, Python requires self explicitly because: Clarity: Explicit is better than implicit (Python’s philosophy). Flexibility: You can name it anything, but self is a convention. Consistency: All instance methods in Python use this approach, making it uniform.

Jan 26, 2025 · The proper use of self in Python functions is essential for effective object - oriented programming. It allows us to define instance methods, access and modify instance attributes, initialize object states, and work with inheritance.

What is self in Python? In object-oriented programming, whenever we define methods for a class, we use self as the first parameter in each case. Let's look at the definition of a class called Cat.

In Python, self refers to the class object itself. With self, you are able to access the attributes and methods of the class. For instance, this Fruit class assigns a custom name and color to itself upon creation. These can then be accessed by the info() method: