python class initialization

Question

Folks,

I am wondering if the following two definitions of the node class are the same or not?

class node:
    left = None
    right= None
    def __init__(self, data):
        self.data = data


class node:
    def __init__(self, data):
        self.data = data
        self.left = None
        self.right= None

Thanks for letting me know.

Steven T. Snyder · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-26 06:46:47Z

7

No, they are not the same.

In the second definition, node.left and node.right don't exist. The right and left attributes would only exist on an initialized instance of the class. However, in the first definition, you can access node.left and node.right directly on the class; you don't have to instantiate it.

answered Feb 26, 2012 at 6:46

Steven T. Snyder

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2 Comments

Blender Over a year ago

Also, you can run node.left = 10 and every node instance would have a.left == 10 (if you are using the first code chunk).

Jason Webb Over a year ago

The values in the first class will be available when instantiated. They can even be set independently of the class values. So other than accessing them without instantiation both classes are more or less the same.

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