On 4 Feb 2006 09:51:22 -0800 "TPJ" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > 1) In OO vocabulary, class is something like template for > an object. But I think the word "object" has something > different meaning in Python. In general I don't use the > word "object" in the same meaning, that it is used by > Python. I try to use words in the same way, that they > are used in OO. > Sometimes I use the word "class" to talk about template > (for an object), and the word "instance" to talk about an > object of some class, but the only reason I do it is to > distinguish between OO-object and Python-object.
"Object" in fact means *exactly* the same thing in Python that it does in any other OOP language. The only issue is that *anything*, even simple things like integers, are *objects* in Python. So, saying "object" (versus something else) doesn't mean much that we didn't already know -- if the program can manipulate it, then it's an "object". Saying a "class instance" or just "instance" for short is a way of specifically saying that it is a *user defined object* that we are talking about, created from a "class" (of course the "class" is *also* an object, and you can even make objects that make classes -- I think that's what a "metaclass" is, though I get fuzzy past that point). Usually the point, though, is to draw attention to what class it is an instance of. A class *is* probably describable as a "template" for an object, although the word "template" has a technical meaning, too, IIRC, which might not be totally consistent with that. More to the point, though, classes are "instance factories" in Python. It's almost as if a class is nothing more than a special category of functions that return instances. I don't know if I've helped at all, but I hope so. ;-) Cheers, Terry -- Terry Hancock ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Anansi Spaceworks http://www.AnansiSpaceworks.com -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
