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Python Object-Oriented Python Inheritance Super-Duper!

Brian Haucke
Brian Haucke
13,717 Points
Posted by Brian Haucke
Brian Haucke
13,717 Points

Why do we need Super() to make the Thief sneaky?

In other words, why can't we just do this:

 class Thief(Character):
      sneaky = True

Instead of doing all this:

 def __init__(self, name, sneaky=True, **kwargs):
     super().__init__(name, **kwargs)
     self.sneaky = sneaky

1 Answer

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,198 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,198 Points

The super call is not involved with setting "sneaky". It just gives the base class a chance to set up other things first. But the rest of the second example causes "sneaky" to be True by default, but allows it to be explicitly set otherwise during the instance creation if an argument for it is given.

The first example would always set it to True for the entire class, and not keep a separate value for each instance (self).