What is a "method" in Python?

user_206857 0
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Can anyone, please, explain to me in very simple terms what a "method" is in Python?

The thing is in many Python tutorials for beginners this word is used in such way as if the beginner already knew what a method is in the context of Python. While I am of course familiar with the general meaning of this word, I have no clue what this term means in Python. So, please, explain to me what the "Pythonian" method is all about.

Some very simple example code would be very much appreciated as a picture is worth thousand words.

methods python
8 Answers

If you think of an object as being similar to a noun, then a method is similar to a verb. Use a method right after an object (i.e. a string or a list) to apply a method's action to it.

user_50513000

To understand methods you must first think in terms of object oriented programming: Let's take a car as a a class. All cars have things in common and things that make them unique, for example all cars have 4 wheels, doors, a steering wheel.... but Your individual car (Lets call it, my_toyota) is red, goes from 0-60 in 5.6s Further the car is currently located at my house, the doors are locked, the trunk is empty... All those are properties of the instance of my_toyota. your_honda might be on the road, trunk full of groceries ...

However there are things you can do with the car. You can drive it, you can open the door, you can load it. Those things you can do with a car are methods of the car, and they change a properties of the specific instance.

as pseudo code you would do:

my_toyota.drive(shop)

to change the location from my home to the shop or

my_toyota.load([milk, butter, bread]

by this the trunk is now loaded with [milk, butter, bread].

As such a method is practically a function that acts as part of the object:

class Car(vehicle)
    n_wheels = 4

    load(self, stuff):
    '''this is a method, to load stuff into the trunk of the car'''
        self.open_trunk
        self.trunk.append(stuff)
        self.close_trunk

the code then would be:

my_toyota = Car(red)
my_shopping = [milk, butter, bread]
my_toyota.load(my_shopping)
user_124321650

A method is a function that ‘belongs’ to an object and has a specific name:

    obj.methodname

where obj is some object (this may be an expression), and methodname is the name of a method that is defined by the object’s type.

It is worth of noting: we call method like any other function. More can be found in python tutorial.

user_112326710
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