Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm centered around objects and classes. Python fully supports OOP and allows developers to structure code in a reusable and modular fashion. This chapter introduces the core concepts of OOP in Python with clear explanations and practical code examples.
Keys Concepts to learn
- Classes Defining blueprints for creating objects that encapsulate data and behavior.
- Objects Instances of classes representing real-world entities with attributes and methods.
- __init__ Method A special constructor method used to initialize object attributes.
- Instance Variables Attributes that hold data unique to each object.
- Class Variables Attributes shared among all instances of a class.
- Methods Functions defined within a class that operate on its objects.
- Self Keyword Refers to the current instance of the class.
- Inheritance Creating a new class from an existing class to reuse code and extend functionality.
- Polymorphism The ability to use a shared interface for different data types or classes.
- Encapsulation Bundling data and methods together while restricting access to some components.
- Abstraction Hiding complex implementation details and exposing only necessary features.
- Magic Methods Special methods that enable operator overloading and advanced class behavior (e.g., `__str__`, `__len__`).
- Best Practices Guidelines for writing clean, maintainable, and efficient OOP code in Python.