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Python Object-Oriented Python Inheritance Inheritance Quiz

Nicolae Laurentiu
Nicolae Laurentiu
1,538 Points

Hy, I don't understand why the code doesn't run

class Fruit:
    test = "test"


class Orange(Fruit):
    has_pulp = True

    def squeeze(self):
        return has_pulp


print(Orange().squeeze())

[MOD: added ```python formatting -cf]

2 Answers

Chris Freeman
MOD
Chris Freeman
Treehouse Moderator 68,441 Points

The error in running your code is:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File “<string>”, line 12, in <module>
  File “<string>”, line 9, in squeeze
NameError: global name ‘has_pulp’ is not defined

To reference the 'has_pulp' attribute of a class instance, the instance needs to be referenced. The parameter self is used to point to the current instance. Using self.has_pulp will fix the error.

Post back if you need more help. Good luck!!!

I'm very interested in how this works. I'm normally used to doing OOP like so:

mandarin_orange = Orange()
mandarin_orange.squeeze()

I didn't know it was even possible to do Orange().squeeze() (of course, if the self.has_pulp attribute were correctly implemented). Would you call this a method call directly on the class, rather than an instantiated object's method call (as would be mandarin_orange.squeeze()) ?

feeling kinda confused but kind of learning

Chris Freeman
Chris Freeman
Treehouse Moderator 68,441 Points

Good question! The key is in the parens. The Orange() in Orange().squeeze() is creating an instance of the class, then calling the squeeze method of that instance. The parens call the class to create the instance.

If the parens are removed, then an error is raised because self doesn’t exist until the class instance wasn’t created. Without parens, it would be calling a classmethod.

Decorating a method with @classmethod allows access before the instance is created.

class Fruit:
    test = "test"


class Orange(Fruit):
    has_pulp = True


    def squeeze(self):
        return self.has_pulp

    @classmethod
    def squeeze2(cls):
        return cls.has_pulp


print(Orange().squeeze())
print(Orange.squeeze2())
# prints
# True
# True