CODEWITHSUNDEEP
python
Rotareti
Rotareti

Reputation: 53853

Is it considered bad practice to call a class function on its own attribute?

Can I just call the get_random_items() function directly on the random_items attribute or is this considered bad practice in Python?

class Items(object):

    def __init__(self, tools, toys, food):
        self.tools = tools
        self.toys = toys
        self.yellow = food
        self.random_items = self.get_random_items([self.tools, self.toys, self.food])

    def get_random_items(self, item_list)
        # do stuff to get random items..
        return random_items

If this is bad practice, what would be a better way to provide the random_items?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 505

Answers (1)

qvpham
qvpham

Reputation: 1938

It works. But if you do that, the value of random_items will be calculated only one time during __init__. You will always get the old value, although the values of tools, toys or food are currently changed.

You should use here property

class Items(object):

    def __init__(self, tools, toys, food):
        self.tools = tools
        self.toys = toys
        self.yellow = food

    @property
    def random_items(self):
        return self.get_random_items([self.tools, self.toys, self.food])

    def get_random_items(item_list)
        # do stuff to get random items..
        return some_random_items

And you can use random_items like attribute in other functions.

Upvotes: 1

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