Welcome to the Treehouse Community
Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.
Looking to learn something new?
Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.
Start your free trialBotshelo Tsogo Tiroyamodimo
3,057 Pointsconfused with the super, init and tightly loosed code
I am having a hard time grasping how the super function works, i believe it is meant for a subclass to inherit the the functions of a parent class. In Kenneth's example though it can be also be used to inherit just a method? So does this mean i can inherit/ transfer just a method from the other modules as long as i have imported them?
And so everytime is use the super()
does this mean i have to include the __init__
when setting attributes of my current module, why do we write "def __init__ (character,sneaky,agile)
and the write the second super().__init__(args,kwargs)
, i still don't get what the second __init__
is for??
Another thing is instead of writing name as part of the arguments, doesn't adding args solve that instead?? Why do we move the character in the thieves module to be the last argument?? What difference does doing that make.
[MOD: added formatting -cf]
2 Answers
Chris Freeman
Treehouse Moderator 68,454 PointsHere is my view on Inheritance and using Super (and namespaces).
When a class is defined is namespace dictionary is created hold all of the locally defined attributes (this includes methods). When an class attribute is accessed, it is looked up in the local namespace dictionary.
But what if the name is not found in the local namespace? The inheritance order (Method Resolution Order - MRO) is searched for the reference by looking at each parent's namespace until the first match is found. This is why an __init__
is not needed in the Thief
class. It is searched for and found in the first parent class - the Agile
class. With this local, then parental, namespace searching, all parent methods are automatically included in the local child class.
Great, but what if you want a different behavior? We can "block" the parent version by creating a local method version that will be "seen" before the parent version. This is referred to as "overriding" the parent method.
OK, but what if you only want to modify the parent's method behavior without completely overriding it? This is where super()
is used. The super().method_name
function says, "search the MRO for the first method_name match, execute that method, then return and continue executing locally." The use of super can repeat recursively if the called parent method also includes a super()
call.
The flow when Thief()
is call go something like:
- call
Thief.__init__()
, not found - check MRO, found `Agile.init(), begin execution
- In
Agile.__init__()
, hitsuper().__init__()
call, check MRO, foundSneaky.__init__()
, begin execution - In
Sneaky.__init__()
, hitsuper().__init()__()
call, check MRO, foundCharacter.__init__()
, begin execution - in
Character.__init__()
, complete execution, return toSneaky.__init__()
- in
Sneaky__init__()
, complete execution, return toAgile.__init__()
- in
Agile.__init__()
, complete execution, return`
If Character
was the first parent class, its __init__
method would return to Thief
and not continue to Agile.__init__()
or Sneaky.__init__()
because there isn't a super()
call in Character.__init__
.
The "second __init__
" in super().__init__
used to tell super()
which method to execute.
Regarding args
and kwargs
, they contain only the left over arguments that aren't assigned to a local parameter.
-
Thief
has no__init__
all arguments are interpreted byAgile.__init__()
. -
Agile.__init__()
defines theagile
parameter, so the first positional argument in args or the keyword "agile" argument would be assigned to this parameter. The remaining positional arguments are assigned to a newargs
and the remaining keyword arguments are assigned to a newkwargs
. This is why "Kenneth" needs a keyword argument: so the string "Kenneth" is not assigned to theagile
parameter. -
Sneaky.__init__()
defines thesneaky
parameter, so the first positional argument inargs
or the keyword "sneaky" argument would be assigned to this parameter. The remaining positional arguments are assigned to a newargs
and the remaining keyword arguments are assigned to a newkwargs
. -
Character.__init__()
defines thename
parameter, so the first positional argument inargs
or the keyword "name" argument would be assigned to this parameter. The remaining positional arguments are assigned to a newargs
and the remaining keyword arguments are assigned to a newkwargs
.
If you were to use Thief("Kenneth", agile=True)
you would get an error that "keyword agile has already been assigned" due to "Kenneth" being assigned to agile
parameter before the keyword argument is evaluated.
Post back if you need more help. Good luck!!
adrian miranda
13,561 PointsThe use of super()
is to actually call a method in a class that you are inheriting from.
So, if you create a __init__
method in your class, it will overwrite the __init__
method from the parent class. The thing is, sometimes you actually still want you to do the same things that the parent class does. But by default they won't happen.
Maybe you could write those things out, but that is wasteful and error prone. It makes more sense to just call super().__init__
and now all of the stuff n your parent class __init__
method will happen. If someone enhances the parent class and it's __init__
in the future, you will automatically get the newest code.
[Mod: added formatting. -cf]
Botshelo Tsogo Tiroyamodimo
3,057 PointsThank you!that helps a lot
Alessandro Malhotra
825 PointsAlessandro Malhotra
825 PointsSuch a complicated answer for a beginner course.
Chris Freeman
Treehouse Moderator 68,454 PointsChris Freeman
Treehouse Moderator 68,454 PointsAlessandro Malhotra, How night I improve this answer?
Alessandro Malhotra
825 PointsAlessandro Malhotra
825 PointsLook at the amount of waffle that is there its nearly a 2 page document just to explain a method looks like it has been copied and pasted from wiki.