Inheritance from other objects

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I'm trying to get a grasp of inheritance in Python but am having problems.

I am trying to create a derived class but want the derived class to only provide an initialized instance of the base class. Specifically I would like to inherit from OrderedDict as shown in the following example.

python Syntax (Toggle Plain Text)
 
from odict import *
 
class ItemTableA(OrderedDict):
    def __init__(self):
        self = OrderedDict()
        self.update( [ ('ITEM1', [(1, 8), 111]) ]  )
        self.update( [ ('ITEM2', [(1, 8), 222]) ]  )
        self.update( [ ('ITEM3', [(1, 8), 333]) ]  )
 
class ItemTableB(OrderedDict):
    def __init__(self):
        self = OrderedDict()
        self.update( [ ('ITEM1', [(1, 16), 111]) ]  )
        self.update( [ ('ITEM2', [(1, 16), 222]) ]  )
        self.update( [ ('ITEM3', [(1, 32), 333]) ]  )
 
if __name__ == '__main__':
    myTable = ItemTableA()
    print type(myTable)         # P1
    print myTable               # P2
    print myTable['ITEM2']      # P3
    print  myTable.keys()       # P4
 
from odict import *

class ItemTableA(OrderedDict):
    def __init__(self):
        self = OrderedDict()
        self.update( [ ('ITEM1', [(1, 8), 111]) ]  )
        self.update( [ ('ITEM2', [(1, 8), 222]) ]  )
        self.update( [ ('ITEM3', [(1, 8), 333]) ]  )

class ItemTableB(OrderedDict):
    def __init__(self):
        self = OrderedDict()
        self.update( [ ('ITEM1', [(1, 16), 111]) ]  )
        self.update( [ ('ITEM2', [(1, 16), 222]) ]  )
        self.update( [ ('ITEM3', [(1, 32), 333]) ]  )

if __name__ == '__main__':
    myTable = ItemTableA()
    print type(myTable)         # P1
    print myTable               # P2
    print myTable['ITEM2']      # P3
    print  myTable.keys()       # P4

I expect the print statement output to be something like:

Python Syntax (Toggle Plain Text)
<class '__main__.ItemTable'>
OrderedDict([('ITEM1',[(1,8),111]),('ITEM2',[(1,8),222]),('ITEM3',[(1,8),333])] )
[(1,8),222]
['ITEM1', 'ITEM2', 'ITEM3']
<class '__main__.ItemTable'>
OrderedDict([('ITEM1',[(1,8),111]),('ITEM2',[(1,8),222]),('ITEM3',[(1,8),333])] )
[(1,8),222]
['ITEM1', 'ITEM2', 'ITEM3']

Instead, when I run this program the last 3 print statements fail. Please cut-n-paste-run to see exceptions.

I suspect it's an operator error in the __init__() statement.
Any ideas? Does my attempt to create a bunch of initialized tables make sense? (perhaps there's a better way)

Thanks,
tg

Last edited by thompsongunner; Oct 12th, 2007 at 4:36 pm. Reason: cleanup

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thompsongunner

Reputation Points: 10

Solved Threads: 0

Newbie Poster

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4 posts
since Sep 2007

Permalink

Oct 12th, 2007

Re: Inheritance from other objects

Well, I don't have an 'odict' module, so my error message was on line 1.

Below is an example of how to do inheritance correctly. If you uncomment lines 21 and 24, you should get an error message similar to the one you were getting.

Basically, the problem with your code is that in __init__, you were clobbering self with a new OrderedDict() object. But then when __init__ returns, its namespace disappears (i.e., all variables are garbage collected), and the change you made is entirely lost.

By contrast, in the WellChild() object below, WellChild's __init__ calls the parent's __init__() -- this should (almost) ALWAYS be done by children. The Parent.__init__ then sets up all of the inherited data members.

The super(type, instance) function looks up the parent of WellChild. Or, you can do it manually as I indicated in the comment. [Note: the documentation on super() is wrong

. It shows super(type), but an instance is also required].

Hope that helps.

Python Syntax (Toggle Plain Text)
class Parent(object):
    def __init__(self):
        self.a = "A"
        self.b = "B"
 
    def __str__(self):
        return self.a + self.b
 
class BrokenChild(Parent):
    def __init__(self):
        self = Parent()
 
class WellChild(Parent):
    def __init__(self):
        super(WellChild, self).__init__()
        # OR,
        # Parent.__init__()
 
 
a = Parent()
#b = BrokenChild()
c = WellChild()
print a
#print b
print c
class Parent(object):
    def __init__(self):
        self.a = "A"
        self.b = "B"

    def __str__(self):
        return self.a + self.b

class BrokenChild(Parent):
    def __init__(self):
        self = Parent()

class WellChild(Parent):
    def __init__(self):
        super(WellChild, self).__init__()
        # OR,
        # Parent.__init__()
         

a = Parent()
#b = BrokenChild()
c = WellChild()
print a
#print b
print c

jrcagle

Reputation Points: 92

Solved Threads: 156

Practically a Master Poster

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608 posts
since Jul 2006

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