Learn Web Development with Python

Class methods

Class methods are slightly different from static methods in that, like instance methods, they also take a special first argument, but in this case, it is the class object itself. A very common use case for coding class methods is to provide factory capability to a class. Let's see an example:

# oop/class.methods.factory.pyclass Point:    def __init__(self, x, y):        self.x = x        self.y = y    @classmethod    def from_tuple(cls, coords):  # cls is Point        return cls(*coords)    @classmethod    def from_point(cls, point):  # cls is Point        return cls(point.x, point.y)p = Point.from_tuple((3, 7))print(p.x, p.y)  # 3 7q = Point.from_point(p)print(q.x, q.y)  # 3 7

In the preceding code, I showed you how to use a class method to create a factory for the class. ...