How to avoid explicit 'self' in Python?

Question

I have been learning Python by following some pygame tutorials.

Therein I found extensive use of the keyword self, and coming from a primarily Java background, I find that I keep forgetting to type self. For example, instead of self.rect.centerx I would type rect.centerx, because, to me, rect is already a member variable of the class.

The Java parallel I can think of for this situation is having to prefix all references to member variables with this.

Am I stuck prefixing all member variables with self, or is there a way to declare them that would allow me to avoid having to do so?

Even if what I am suggesting isn't pythonic, I'd still like to know if it is possible.

I have taken a look at these related SO questions, but they don't quite answer what I am after:

• Python - why use “self” in a class?
• Why do you need explicitly have the “self” argument into a Python method?

Answer 1

Use a distinguishable character from outside the ascii range:

class Stuff:
    def __init__(ж, x, y):
        ж.x = x
        ж.y = y

Rationale:

This does not answer the question, how can "self" be avoided entirely, but as others explained already, it should probably not be.

But if you ask, how could you minimize the amount of characters to read and at the same time keep it well distinguishable, this would be a possible answer. You may want a different choice of character, but I think it's better not to use 's', but something that makes it obvious: "This is something with a special meaning"

When I started with python (coming from c++ and c#) I tried 'this', but quickly found, that this is a very selfish way to deal with the situation and I would quite quickly adopt to 'self' as I am reading example codes on sites like SO. I would end up seeing no advantage of 'this' over 'self' and stopped it quickly.

I also realized, that it would be a very good practice in all languages to have a binding and in some way enforced notion of accessing an objects member, but at the same time not taking up more than a single characters space (and I would include the dot into that count).

So, this is the solution I am using in my personal projects. Bearing a small hope, that one day we'd all realize we should agree upon a common single character. Ideally python itself would enable a single-character shortcut, that also includes the dot.

Another solution, that is more complex than mine, but doesn't involve python would be to use a font, that draws a ligature between a special character and the dot as something, that would be very recognizable. I am imagining a small circular shape, that has an edge on the right side - pointing to the attribute name. It will still take the width of two on a fixed width font, but is readable like one symbol only.

Answer 2

In Java terms: Python doesn't have member functions, all class functions are static, and are called with a reference to the actual class instance as first argument when invoked as member function.

This means that when your code has a class MyClass and you build an instance m = MyClass(), calling m.do_something() will be executed as MyClass.do_something(m).

Also note that this first argument can technically be called anything you want, but the convention is to use self, and you should stick to that convention if you want others (including your future self) to be able to easily read your code.

The result is there's never any confusion over what's a member and what's not, even without the full class definition visible. This leads to useful properties, such as: you can't add members which accidentally shadow non-members and thereby break code.

One extreme example: you can write a class without any knowledge of what base classes it might have, and always know whether you are accessing a member or not:

class A(some_function()):
  def f(self):
    self.member = 42
    self.method()

That's the complete code! (some_function returns the type used as a base.)

Another, where the methods of a class are dynamically composed:

class B(object):
  pass

print B()
# <__main__.B object at 0xb7e4082c>

def B_init(self):
  self.answer = 42
def B_str(self):
  return "<The answer is %s.>" % self.answer
# notice these functions require no knowledge of the actual class
# how hard are they to read and realize that "members" are used?

B.__init__ = B_init
B.__str__ = B_str

print B()
# <The answer is 42.>

Remember, both of these examples are extreme and you won't see them every day, nor am I suggesting you should often write code like this, but they do clearly show aspects of self being explicitly required.

Answer 3

Here I follow the idea from the answer by @argentum2f to copy the attributes. This can be automated by a decorator and it works with Python 3. Of course copying the attributes means that they cannot be changed, hence the name @const_self for the decorator.

With @const_self you define a method with first arguments that have the same names as the attributes you want to use — and no self.

from cmath import sqrt

def const_self(fun):
    fun_args = fun.__code__.co_varnames[:fun.__code__.co_argcount]

    def fun_with_self(*args, **kwargs):
        self = args[0]
        other_args = list(args[1:])

        used_attributes = [arg for arg in fun_args if hasattr(self, arg)]
        self_args = [getattr(self, attr) for attr in used_attributes]

        return fun(*(self_args + other_args), **kwargs)

    return fun_with_self

class QuadraticEquation:
    def __init__(self, a, b, c):
        self.a = a
        self.b = b
        self.c = c

    @const_self
    def roots(a, b, c, dummy, lazy = False):
        print("Dummy is", dummy)
        if lazy: return # A lazy calculator does not calculate
        return (-b - sqrt(b**2 - 4*a*c)) /2/a, (-b + sqrt(b**2 - 4*a*c)) /2/a

Of course a lot should be improved in that code: At least it fails if you define a method like def fun(a, dummy, b, c): print(a,b,c) here and it does not preserve the docstring. But I think it demonstrates the idea well enough.

Answer 4

Previous answers are all basically variants of "you can't" or "you shouldn't". While I agree with the latter sentiment, the question is technically still unanswered.

Furthermore, there are legitimate reasons why someone might want to do something along the lines of what the actual question is asking. One thing I run into sometimes is lengthy math equations where using long names makes the equation unrecognizable. Here are a couple ways of how you could do this in a canned example:

import numpy as np
class MyFunkyGaussian() :
    def __init__(self, A, x0, w, s, y0) :
        self.A = float(A)
        self.x0 = x0
        self.w = w
        self.y0 = y0
        self.s = s

    # The correct way, but subjectively less readable to some (like me) 
    def calc1(self, x) :
        return (self.A/(self.w*np.sqrt(np.pi))/(1+self.s*self.w**2/2)
                * np.exp( -(x-self.x0)**2/self.w**2)
                * (1+self.s*(x-self.x0)**2) + self.y0 )

    # The correct way if you really don't want to use 'self' in the calculations
    def calc2(self, x) :
        # Explicity copy variables
        A, x0, w, y0, s = self.A, self.x0, self.w, self.y0, self.s
        sqrt, exp, pi = np.sqrt, np.exp, np.pi
        return ( A/( w*sqrt(pi) )/(1+s*w**2/2)
                * exp( -(x-x0)**2/w**2 )
                * (1+s*(x-x0)**2) + y0 )

    # Probably a bad idea...
    def calc3(self, x) :
        # Automatically copy every class vairable
        for k in self.__dict__ : exec(k+'= self.'+k)
        sqrt, exp, pi = np.sqrt, np.exp, np.pi
        return ( A/( w*sqrt(pi) )/(1+s*w**2/2)
                * exp( -(x-x0)**2/w**2 )
                * (1+s*(x-x0)**2) + y0 )

g = MyFunkyGaussian(2.0, 1.5, 3.0, 5.0, 0.0)
print(g.calc1(0.5))
print(g.calc2(0.5))
print(g.calc3(0.5))

The third example - i.e. using for k in self.__dict__ : exec(k+'= self.'+k) is basically what the question is actually asking for, but let me be clear that I don't think it is generally a good idea.

For more info, and ways to iterate through class variables, or even functions, see answers and discussion to this question. For a discussion of other ways to dynamically name variables, and why this is usually not a good idea see this blog post.

UPDATE: There appears to be no way to dynamically update or change locals in a function in Python3, so calc3 and similar variants are no longer possible. The only python3 compatible solution I can think of now is to use globals:

def calc4(self, x) :
        # Automatically copy every class variable in globals
        globals().update(self.__dict__)
        sqrt, exp, pi = np.sqrt, np.exp, np.pi
        return ( A/( w*sqrt(pi) )/(1+s*w**2/2)
                * exp( -(x-x0)**2/w**2 )
                * (1+s*(x-x0)**2) + y0 )

Which, again, would be a terrible practice in general.

Answer 5

Actually you can use recipe "Implicit self" from Armin Ronacher presentation "5 years of bad ideas" ( google it).

It's a very clever recipe, as almost everything from Armin Ronacher, but I don't think this idea is very appealing. I think I'd prefer explicit this in C#/Java.

Update. Link to "bad idea recipe": https://speakerdeck.com/mitsuhiko/5-years-of-bad-ideas?slide=58

Answer 6

The "self" is the conventional placeholder of the current object instance of a class. Its used when you want to refer to the object's property or field or method inside a class as if you're referring to "itself". But to make it shorter someone in the Python programming realm started to use "self" , other realms use "this" but they make it as a keyword which cannot be replaced. I rather used "its" to increase the code readability. Its one of the good things in Python - you have a freedom to choose your own placeholder for the object's instance other than "self". Example for self:

class UserAccount():    
    def __init__(self, user_type, username, password):
        self.user_type = user_type
        self.username = username            
        self.password = encrypt(password)        

    def get_password(self):
        return decrypt(self.password)

    def set_password(self, password):
        self.password = encrypt(password)

Now we replace 'self' with 'its':

class UserAccount():    
    def __init__(its, user_type, username, password):
        its.user_type = user_type
        its.username = username            
        its.password = encrypt(password)        

    def get_password(its):
        return decrypt(its.password)

    def set_password(its, password):
        its.password = encrypt(password)

which is more readable now?

Answer 7

From: Self Hell - More stateful functions.

...a hybrid approach works best. All of your class methods that actually do computation should be moved into closures, and extensions to clean up syntax should be kept in classes. Stuff the closures into classes, treating the class much like a namespace. The closures are essentially static functions, and so do not require selfs*, even in the class...

Answer 8

Yeah, self is tedious. But, is it better?

class Test:

    def __init__(_):
        _.test = 'test'

    def run(_):
        print _.test

Answer 9

You can use whatever name you want, for example

class test(object):
    def function(this, variable):
        this.variable = variable

or even

class test(object):
    def function(s, variable):
        s.variable = variable

but you are stuck with using a name for the scope.

I do not recommend you use something different to self unless you have a convincing reason, as it would make it alien for experienced pythonistas.

Answer 10

yes, you must always specify self, because explicit is better than implicit, according to python philosophy.

You will also find out that the way you program in python is very different from the way you program in java, hence the use of self tends to decrease because you don't project everything inside the object. Rather, you make larger use of module-level function, which can be better tested.

by the way. I hated it at first, now I hate the opposite. same for indented-driven flow control.

Answer 11

Actually self is not a keyword, it's just the name conventionally given to the first parameter of instance methods in Python. And that first parameter can't be skipped, as it's the only mechanism a method has of knowing which instance of your class it's being called on.

Answer 12

self is part of the python syntax to access members of objects, so I'm afraid you're stuck with it