CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonpython-3.xobjectmethods
user107224
user107224

Reputation: 205

Difference between object.method() and method(object) in Python?

I have a very basic question; if this is a duplicate please link me to it as I wasn’t sure what to search!

I’d like the ask what the difference between object.method() and method(object) is. For instance, when I was defining a stack class, I noticed that peek(stack) returned name error while stack.peek() worked fine. Why is this so? Please forgive me is this is a duplicate, will remove this question if so!

Upvotes: 0

Views: 112

Answers (1)

bruno desthuilliers
bruno desthuilliers

Reputation: 77892

Assuming this class definition:

# foo.py

class Stack(object):
    def peek(self):
        return 42

The peek function, being declared in the class statement block, becomes an attribute of the Stack class and not a module global of the foo module, so you cannot access it directly - you need to look it up on Stack, ie:

# foo.py continued

obj = Stack()


try:
    peek(obj)
except NameError:
    print("peek is not a module-level function")

Stack.peek(obj)
# or more simply
obj.peek()

Upvotes: 1

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