Think Python

Chapter 16. Classes and Functions

Code examples from this chapter are available from http://thinkpython.com/code/Time1.py.

Time

As another example of a user-defined type, we’ll define a class called Time that records the time of day. The class definition looks like this:

class Time(object):
    """Represents the time of day.

    attributes: hour, minute, second
    """

We can create a new Time object and assign attributes for hours, minutes, and seconds:

time = Time()
time.hour = 11
time.minute = 59
time.second = 30

The state diagram for the Time object looks like Figure 16-1.

Exercise 16-1.

Write a function called print_time that takes a Time object and prints it in the form hour:minute:second. Hint: the format sequence '%.2d' prints an integer using at least two digits, including a leading zero if necessary.

Exercise 16-2.

Write a boolean function called is_after that takes two Time objects, t1 and t2, and returns True if t1 follows t2 chronologically and False otherwise. Challenge: don’t use an if statement.

Figure 16-1. Object diagram.

Pure Functions

In the next few sections, we’ll write two functions that add time values. They demonstrate two kinds of functions: pure functions and modifiers. They also demonstrate a development plan I’ll call prototype and patch, which is a way of tackling a complex problem by starting with a simple prototype and incrementally dealing with the complications.

Here is ...