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Python Object-Oriented Python Inheritance Super-Duper!

I don't understand the purpose of super() at all and what it does

I'm completely just confused on the super() function, but none of these explanations are helping, what exactly does super do? And how does the parent class even impact the sneaky attribute??

Don't psych yourself out of this. super() just calls the constructor function on the parent class and gives the inheriting class access to all the properties and methods available on the parent class. That's about it, or that's all you need to know to get going with it at least.

2 Answers

boi
boi
14,242 Points

Since you're a beginner, I'll try to make you understand what you need to understand about super(), in very simple terms. consider this code;

import random

class Character:
    def __init__(self, name, **kwargs):
        self.name = name

        for key, value in kwargs.items():
            setattr(self, key, value)

Do you see the self.name attribute in the Character class? Good, now suppose you want to create another class named Thief and set an __init__ function with extra attributes also, inheriting everything from the Character class, so you would probably do something like this 👇

import random

class Character:
    def __init__(self, name, **kwargs):
        self.name = name

        for key, value in kwargs.items():
            setattr(self, key, value)



class Thief(Character):
    def __init__(self, stealth, endurance, sneaky):
        self.stealth = stealth
        self.endurance = endurance
        self.sneaky = sneaky       

Good, now run the program, but wait, there are two __init__ methods, one from the Character class and other from the Thief class, since only one __init__ method can run at a time, is there a way to run both of the __init__ methods together? like combined? YES, this is where super() comes into picture. To run both of the __init__ methods you can use super() like this;

import random

class Character:
    def __init__(self, name, **kwargs):
        self.name = name

        for key, value in kwargs.items():
            setattr(self, key, value)



class Thief(Character):
    def __init__(self, name, stealth, endurance, sneaky, **kwargs):👈#Must include parameters from the inherited class
                                                                     #in this case those parameters are "name" and "**kwargs"

        super().__init__(name, **kwargs) 👈#Used super() here to combine the "Character class  __init__" method with
                                           #the "Thief class __init__" method                                 
        self.stealth = stealth
        self.endurance = endurance
        self.sneaky = sneaky
 #Notice you don't need to set attributes of the "Character" class here, because you don't need to set it, the super()
 #handles that as well

Go into the REPL

>>> from characters import Thief

>>> jayda = Thief("Jayda hendrickson", "42%", "50%", "True")

>>> jayda.name
"Jayda hendrickson"

>>> jayda.stealth
"42%"

>>> jayda.endurance
"50%"

>>> jayda.sneaky
"True"

As you progress further into the course you will understand much more about the usage of super(), for now try to understand why did Kenneth use it in this video. I recommend you play around with super() a bit before going further into the course.

Note :This explanation is to give you somewhat idea of the use of super(), in reality super() is used when you want to override any method and want to access the version in the parent class.

You should also check out pro Josh Keenan's and the veteran Steven Parker's explanations.

That was incredibly helpful. Thank you!

That really helped thank you!