16.3. Using objects¶
As it turns out, we have been using objects all along in this book. Python provides us with many built-in objects. Here is some simple code where the first few lines should feel very simple and natural to you.
Instead of focusing on what these lines accomplish, let’s look at what is really happening from the point of view of object-oriented programming. Don’t worry if the following paragraphs don’t make any sense the first time you read them because we have not yet defined all of these terms.
The first line constructs an object of type list, the second and third
lines call the append() method, the fourth line calls
the sort() method, and the fifth line retrieves the item at position 0.
The sixth line calls the __getitem__()\ ``method in thestuff`` list
with a parameter of zero.
print (stuff.__getitem__(0))
The seventh line is an even more verbose way of retrieving the 0th item in the list.
print (list.__getitem__(stuff,0))
In this code, we call the __getitem__\ ``method in thelist`` class
and pass the list and the item we want retrieved from the list
as parameters.
The last three lines of the program are equivalent, but it is more convenient to simply use the square bracket syntax to look up an item at a particular position in a list.
We can take a look at the capabilities of an object by
looking at the output of the dir() function:
The rest of this chapter will define all of the above terms so make sure to come back after you finish the chapter and re-read the above paragraphs to check your understanding.