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Nested scopes in Class definitions
# module1.py
class Python:
kingdom = 'animalia'
phylum = 'chordata'
family = 'pythonidae'
def __init__(self, species):
self.species = species
def say_hello(self):
return 'ssss…'
p = Python('monty')
à module has its own (global) scope
contains Python, p
à class body has its own scope
contains kingdom, phylum , family , __init__
, say_hello
à what about the scope of functions
defined in the body of a class?
à turns out they are NOT nested inside the
class body scope
à symbols __init__, say_hello are in the class
body scope
à but functions themselves are nested in the
class's containing scope
(module1 in this example)
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Think of it this way

# module1.py

class Python:

kingdom = 'animalia'
phylum = 'chordata' def callable_1(self, species):
family = 'pythonidae' self.species = species

__init__ = callable_1

say_hello = callable_2 def callable_2(self):

return 'ssss…'
p = Python('monty')

à when Python looks for a symbol in a function, it will therefore not use the class body scope!
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In practical terms…

class Account: this works because APR and

COMP_FREQ = 12 COMP_FREQ are symbols in the
APR = 0.02 # 2% same (class body) namespace
APY = (1 + APR/COMP_FREQ) ** COMP_FREQ - 1

def __init__(self, balance):

this works because we used self.APY
self.balance = balance

def monthly_interest(self):
return self.balance * self.APY

@classmethod this works because we used cls.APY

def monthly_interest_2(cls, amount):
return amount * cls.APY

@staticmethod this works because we used Account.APY

def monthly_interest_3(amount):
return amount * Account.APY
this will fail if APY is not defined in this function's
def monthly_interest_3(self): scope or in any enclosing scope
return self.amount * APY
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BEWARE: This can produce subtle bugs!
Coding

©2019 MathByte Academy