Develop Reference

How do I refer to static class variable in Python?

I have a 'static' class
class A:
a = 1
#staticmethod
def doStuff():
foo(A.a)
Now I need a derived class
class B(A):
a = 2
that basically does
#staticmethod
def doStuff():
foo(B.a)
If A would not be a pseudo static class, I could just derive B from A and
foo(self.a)
would do what I want. Is there a way to avoid copying doStuff() into class B and replace foo(A.a) with foo(B.a)? Something along the line of referring to the class in a 'self' way and having class A s doStuff look like
def doStuff():
foo(class_self.a)
?

I assume you mean class instead of def in your code.
The answer is not to use a staticmethod, but a classmethod. This would behave exactly as you want.
class A:
a = 1
#classmethod
def doStuff(cls):
foo(cls.a)
class B(A):
a = 2

Python : Set method attribute from within method

I am trying to make a python decorator that adds attributes to methods of a class so that I can access and modify those attributes from within the method itself. The decorator code is
from types import MethodType
class attribute(object):
def __init__(self, **attributes):
self.attributes = attributes
def __call__(self, function):
class override(object):
def __init__(self, function, attributes):
self.__function = function
for att in attributes:
setattr(self, att, attributes[att])
def __call__(self, *args, **kwargs):
return self.__function(*args, **kwargs)
def __get__(self, instance, owner):
return MethodType(self, instance, owner)
retval = override(function, self.attributes)
return retval
I tried this decorator on the toy example that follows.
class bar(object):
#attribute(a=2)
def foo(self):
print self.foo.a
self.foo.a = 1
Though I am able to access the value of attribute 'a' from within foo(), I can't set it to another value. Indeed, when I call bar().foo(), I get the following AttributeError.
AttributeError: 'instancemethod' object has no attribute 'a'
Why is this? More importantly how can I achieve my goal?
Edit
Just to be more specific, I am trying to find a simple way to implement static variable that are located within class methods. Continuing from the example above, I would like instantiate b = bar(), call both foo() and doo() methods and then access b.foo.a and b.doo.a later on.
class bar(object):
#attribute(a=2)
def foo(self):
self.foo.a = 1
#attribute(a=4)
def doo(self):
self.foo.a = 3

The best way to do this is to not do it at all.
First of all, there is no need for an attribute decorator; you can just assign it yourself:
class bar(object):
def foo(self):
print self.foo.a
self.foo.a = 1
foo.a = 2
However, this still encounters the same errors. You need to do:
self.foo.__dict__['a'] = 1
You can instead use a metaclass...but that gets messy quickly.
On the other hand, there are cleaner alternatives.
You can use defaults:
def foo(self, a):
print a[0]
a[0] = 2
foo.func_defaults = foo.func_defaults[:-1] + ([2],)
Of course, my preferred way is to avoid this altogether and use a callable class ("functor" in C++ words):
class bar(object):
def __init__(self):
self.foo = self.foo_method(self)
class foo_method(object):
def __init__(self, bar):
self.bar = bar
self.a = 2
def __call__(self):
print self.a
self.a = 1
Or just use classic class attributes:
class bar(object):
def __init__(self):
self.a = 1
def foo(self):
print self.a
self.a = 2
If it's that you want to hide a from derived classes, use whatever private attributes are called in Python terminology:
class bar(object):
def __init__(self):
self.__a = 1 # this will be implicitly mangled as __bar__a or similar
def foo(self):
print self.__a
self.__a = 2
EDIT: You want static attributes?
class bar(object):
a = 1
def foo(self):
print self.a
self.a = 2
EDIT 2: If you want static attributes visible to only the current function, you can use PyExt's modify_function:
import pyext
def wrap_mod(*args, **kw):
def inner(f):
return pyext.modify_function(f, *args, **kw)
return inner
class bar(object):
#wrap_mod(globals={'a': [1]})
def foo(self):
print a[0]
a[0] = 2
It's slightly ugly and hackish. But it works.
My recommendation would be just to use double underscores:
class bar(object):
__a = 1
def foo(self):
print self.__a
self.__a = 2
Although this is visible to the other functions, it's invisible to anything else (actually, it's there, but it's mangled).
FINAL EDIT: Use this:
import pyext
def wrap_mod(*args, **kw):
def inner(f):
return pyext.modify_function(f, *args, **kw)
return inner
class bar(object):
#wrap_mod(globals={'a': [1]})
def foo(self):
print a[0]
a[0] = 2
foo.a = foo.func_globals['a']
b = bar()
b.foo() # prints 1
b.foo() # prints 2
# external access
b.foo.a[0] = 77
b.foo() # prints 77

While You can accomplish Your goal by replacing self.foo.a = 1 with self.foo.__dict__['a'] = 1 it is generally not recommended.

If you are using Python2 - (and not Python3) - whenever you retrieve a method from an instance, a new instance method object is created which is a wrapper to the original function defined in the class body.
The instance method is a rather transparent proxy to the function - you can retrieve the function's attributes through it, but not set them - that is why setting an item in self.foo.__dict__ works.
Alternatively you can reach the function object itself using: self.foo.im_func - the im_func attribute of instance methods point the underlying function.

Based on other contributors's answers, I came up with the following workaround. First, wrap a dictionnary in a class resolving non-existant attributes to the wrapped dictionnary such as the following code.
class DictWrapper(object):
def __init__(self, d):
self.d = d
def __getattr__(self, key):
return self.d[key]
Credits to Lucas Jones for this code.
Then implement a addstatic decorator with a statics attribute that will store the static attributes.
class addstatic(object):
def __init__(self, **statics):
self.statics = statics
def __call__(self, function):
class override(object):
def __init__(self, function, statics):
self.__function = function
self.statics = DictWrapper(statics)
def __call__(self, *args, **kwargs):
return self.__function(*args, **kwargs)
def __get__(self, instance, objtype):
from types import MethodType
return MethodType(self, instance)
retval = override(function, self.statics)
return retval
The following code is an example of how the addstatic decorator can be used on methods.
class bar(object):
#attribute(a=2, b=3)
def foo(self):
self.foo.statics.a = 1
self.foo.statics.b = 2
Then, playing with an instance of the bar class yields :
>>> b = bar()
>>> b.foo.statics.a
2
>>> b.foo.statics.b
3
>>> b.foo()
>>> b.foo.statics.a
3
>>> b.foo.statics.b
5
The reason for using this statics dictionnary follows jsbueno's answer which suggest that what I want would require overloading the dot operator of and instance method wrapping the foo function, which I am not sure is possible. Of course, the method's attribute could be set in self.foo.__dict__, but since it not recommended (as suggested by brainovergrow), I came up with this workaround. I am not certain this would be recommended either and I guess it is up for comments.

Access to the methods of the class from which it was instantiated another class

I'm trying to access the methods of the class from which it was instantiated another class, I mean, accessing to the "parent" instance without creating a new instance of it.
class A():
def __init__(self):
...
b_instance = B()
...
class B():
def __init__(self):
...
def function1(self):
...
def function2(self):
C().run() # I need to use class C functionalities
...
class C():
def __init__(self):
...
def run(self):
classB.function1() #I can't access to these methods without instantiating again class B
# I have to execute:
>>> a = A()
>>> a.b_instance.function2()
Sorry if I have not explained well, is a bit confusing. If you need any clarification do not hesitate to ask.
EDIT.
In class C a specific handling of the execution of class B methods is done. Is not possible to instanciate again inside C because class B contains the initialization of hardware.

It's still not clear what exactly you're trying to achieve, but here's one fix:
class A():
def __init__(self):
...
b_instance = B()
...
class B():
def __init__(self):
...
def function1(self):
...
def function2(self):
C().run(self) # pass class B instance to C instance run method
...
class C():
def __init__(self):
...
def run(self, classB): # note additional parameter
classB.function1()
However, note that this represents a very high level of coupling between your various classes, which seems suspicious to me and may indicate a deeper flaw in your design.

This can access the class methods from other classes.
use instance method, class methods and static methods, if you are using various types of functins.
class A():
def __init__(self):
print 'in __init__'
self.b_instance = B() # making an instance of class
#self.b_instance.function2()
class B():
def __init__(self):
print 'in __init__, B'
#staticmethod
def function1():
print 'func1'
def function2(self):
C().run() # I need to use class C functionalities
# if you trying to access `run` method of `class C` make
# it instance bound method"""
class C():
def __init__(self):
pass
def run(self):
print 'in run'
B.function1() #I can't access to these methods without instantiating again class B
#you are passing class instance as `B` while calling function1
# so make it either classmethod `#classmethod` or `static method`
# I have to execute:
a = A()
a.b_instance.function2() # calling b_instance variable of class A

Refer to own class in a static method

Is there a shorthand for referring to its own class in a static method?
Say I have this piece of code:
class SuperLongClassName(object):
#staticmethod
def sayHi():
print 'Hi'
#staticmethod
def speak():
SuperLongClassName.sayHi() # Is there a shorthand?

Yes, use #classmethod instead of #staticmethod. The whole point of #staticmethod is to remove the extra class parameter if you don't need it.
class SuperLongClassName(object):
#classmethod
def sayHi(cls):
print 'Hi'
#classmethod
def speak(cls):
cls.sayHi()

You probably want a classmethod. It works like a staticmethod, but takes the class as an implicit first argument.
class Claaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaass(object):
#classmethod
def foo(cls):
print cls.__name__
Claaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaass.foo() # prints Claaa...
Warning:
class Subclaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaass(
Claaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaass):
pass
Subclaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaass.foo() # prints Subclaaa...
Alternatively, define a shorter alias for your class at module level:
class Claaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaass2(object):
#staticmethod
def foo():
return _cls2
_cls2 = Claaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaass2
# prints True
print (Claaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaass2 is
Claaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaass2.foo())

Making a class method recognize which class context it's running in

I need to refactor existing code by collapsing a method that's copy-and-pasted between various classed that inherit from one another into a single method.
So I produced the following code:
class A(object):
def rec(self):
return 1
class B(A):
def rec(self):
return self.rec_gen(B)
def rec_gen(self, rec_class):
return super(rec_class, self).rec() + 1
class C(B):
def rec(self):
return self.rec_gen(C)
if __name__=='__main__':
b = B(); c = C()
print c.rec()
print b.rec()
And the output:
3
2
What still bothers me is that in the 'rec' method I need to tell 'rec_gen' the context of the class in which it's running. Is there a way for 'rec_gen' to figure it out by itself in runtime?

This capability has been added to Python 3 - see PEP 3135. In a nutshell:
class B(A):
def rec(self):
return super().rec() + 1
I think you've created the convoluted rec()/rec_gen() setup because you couldn't automatically find the class, but in case you want that anyway the following should work:
class A(object):
def rec(self):
return 1
class B(A):
def rec(self):
# __class__ is a cell that is only created if super() is in the method
super()
return self.rec_gen(__class__)
def rec_gen(self, rec_class):
return super(rec_class, self).rec() + 1
class C(B):
def rec(self):
# __class__ is a cell that is only created if super() is in the method
super()
return self.rec_gen(__class__)
The simplest solution in Python 2 is to use a private member to hold the super object:
class B(A):
def __init__(self):
self.__super = super(B)
def rec(self):
return self.__super.rec() + 1
But that still suffers from the need to specify the actual class in one place, and if you happen to have two identically-named classes in the class hierarchy (e.g. from different modules) this method will break.
There were a couple of us who made recipes for automatic resolution for Python 2 prior to the existence of PEP 3135 - my method is at self.super on ActiveState. Basically, it allows the following:
class B(A, autosuper):
def rec(self):
return self.super().rec() + 1
or in the case that you're calling a parent method with the same name (the most common case):
class B(A, autosuper):
def rec(self):
return self.super() + 1
Caveats to this method:
It's quite slow. I have a version sitting around somewhere that does bytecode manipulation to improve the speed a lot.
It's not consistent with PEP 3135 (although it was a proposal for the Python 3 super at one stage).
It's quite complex.
It's a mix-in base class.
I don't know if the above would enable you to meet your requirements. With a small change to the recipe though you could find out what class you're in and pass that to rec_gen() - basically extract the class-finding code out of _getSuper() into its own method.

An alternative solution for python 2.x would be to use a metaclass to automatically define the rec method in all your subclasses:
class RecGen(type):
def __new__(cls, name, bases, dct):
new_cls = super(RecGen, cls).__new__(cls, name, bases, dct)
if bases != (object,):
def rec(self):
return super(new_cls, self).rec() + 1
new_cls.rec = rec
return new_cls
class A(object):
__metaclass__ = RecGen
def rec(self):
return 1
class B(A):
pass
class C(B):
pass
Note that if you're just trying to get something like the number of parent classes, it would be easier to use self.__class__.__mro__ directly:
class A(object):
def rec(self):
return len(self.__class__.__mro__)-1
class B(A):
pass
class C(B):
pass

I'm not sure exactly what you're trying to achieve, but if it is just to have a method that returns a different constant value for each class then use class attributes to store the value. It isn't clear at all from your example that you need to go anywhere near super().
class A(object):
REC = 1
def rec(self):
return self.REC
class B(A):
REC = 2
class C(B):
REC = 3
if __name__=='__main__':
b = B(); c = C()
print c.rec()
print b.rec()