Python Programming

Objects

In Python, all values are (in a sense) objects.

So 356, 3.2, 4+5j, "Imperial", False are all objects.

Do you not believe me? Try these:

>>>> isinstance(2020, object) 
>>>> isinstance(4.33, object)
>>>> isinstance(5j, object)
>>>> isinstance(True, object)
>>>> isinstance("COVID-19", object)

You should read these as “2020 is an instance of the type object. True or false?”.

We will discuss objects in more detail in a later module.

For now, all you need to know is that you can create a new object with the name of the type (or class), followed by a paranthesis and some input argument. This is called a constructor.

>>> int()
>>> float()
>>> complex()
>>> int(-9.789)
>>> float(9)
>>> complex(1,2)
>>> type(complex(1,2))

Note that the constructors may perform type casting to convert its input argument to a valid value.

Objects can also have attributes (something the object has), written as object.attribute.

>>> number = complex(3, 4)
>>> number.real
>>> number.imag

You can read this as “number’s real attribute” and “number’s imag(inary) attribute”.

Objects can also have methods (something the object can do), written as object.method().

>>> "london".capitalize()

We will discuss this topic in more depth later. For now, all you need to remember is that all values are objects.