Python Prototyping for Infrastructure Systems
Lesson 3: Object-Oriented Programming
Instructor: Xuesong (Pine) Liu
© 2015 Xuesong (Pine) Liu
Please do not copy or post on the web without permission
Outline
• Object-Oriented Programming
– Why Object-oriented?
– Class and instances
– Attributes and methods
– Inheritance
What is Object-Oriented Programming?
• Procedural • Object-Oriented
programming Programming
– Variable – Class and object
– Procedure/Function/ – Attribute and
Method behavior
– Hard to understand – Easy to understand
– Execution step by – Interactive methods
step call
Procedural programming codes can be
complicated
• Example codes – ProceduralExample.py
Why Object-Oriented?
• Main advantages
– Real-world concept
• Entity, attribute and relationship
– Reusability
– Package and library management
Overview of the Object-oriented Programming
• Object/Instance: the basic run-time units that represent actual
entities in the program
– One drawing
• Class: defines a template of the objects that have similar
attributes and behaviors
– The entity type - drawing
• Attributes and methods: represents the properties and behavior
of objects
– Building name, contractor, etc.
• Inheritance: enables objects to reuse the common attributes and
methods
• Polymorphism: enables operation to have different behaviors in
different instances
• Data Encapsulation: hides the complexity and details for simple
reuse
Class, Attribute and Method
• Class – define a type of concept
– Attribute: Properties and characteristics of the concept
– Method: Behavior of the concept
• Class only defines the characteristics of a type of
things. It is not a real entity.
• Object/Instance
– Represent the actual thing
– Cannot change the type of characteristics
– But can define the actual values
Define a class
• class class_name(parent_class_name):
variable1 = 0
variable2 = “Wall”
def method1(self, parameter1, …):
… Code
Use the class and instance
• Object/instance: An entity that is the type of a class.
• Declaration:
– object_name = class_Name();
• Use attribute and method
– Object_name.attribute_name;
– Object_name.method_name();
Example: Drawing class and instances
• Create a class to represent the attributes of drawings
• Create four instances of this class
• Create two methods for searching for drawings using
instances
Another example: Wall and column
• Attributes
– Material type – String
– Material unit price – number
– Labor unit price – number
– Labor productivity – number
• Method
– Calculate the total cost
Initialization method
• __init__()
• Provide initial values of the attributes to a new
instance of a class
• Make sure the new instance does not contain empty
values
Example
Inheritance!
• Very useful for reusability and managing the code
• Look at the class Wall and Column. See any common
attributes and methods?
Inheritance!
• Very useful for reusability and managing the code
• Look at the class Wall and Column. See any common
attributes and methods?
– Repeating the same/similar code is evil
• Have to change all of them
• Time-consuming
• Making the code seem naïve
– How about getting the common stuff out and put them in the
same place?
Class hierarchy
• Super class and subclass
More examples
• Let’s add a subclass for the wall called curvedWall
Manage multiple Python source code files
• Module and Package
– Module is a single Python file
– Any variable, methods and classes in a module can be
accessed if it’s imported
– Two ways to import a module or its content
• import Module_name: Import the entire module
• from Module_name import method, variable, etc.: Import
indiviudal method, variable or class in the module
– from Module_name import *: Import everything
– Examples
Package
• A mechanism for organizing the modules. Just like
the file folder for classes.
• Access the modules in a package
– Using the dot operator
• Examples
Method override – Polymorphism
• The method from a super class is modified in the
subclasses
• Simply re-write the exact same method but do some
different coding.
• One interface, multiple methods
– Add the equipment cost for the column.
