how to use property?

Chris Angelico rosuav at gmail.com
Mon Sep 17 18:12:26 EDT 2012


On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 7:55 AM, Fernando Jiménez <the.merck at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi guys!
>
> I'm noob in python and I would know how to correctly use the property. I
> have read some things about it but I do not quite understand.
>
> But I think it's a bad habit to use _ to change the visibility of the
> attributes as in JAVA.
>
> How to correctly use the property?

The single leading underscore is nothing to do with visibility; it's a
courteous request that external referents not touch something. In a
"consenting adults" model, that's usually sufficient.

For the most part, in fact, you don't need @property at all. Just make
an object's members public and save yourself the trouble! Unlike the
recommendation in C++ and Java, Python doesn't ask you to hide things
and write code to make them available. Instead of starting with
getters and setters, just start with a flat property, and move to
getters/setters only when you find you need them.

The example you posted is adding nothing to the work flow, but it's a
good structure that you can tinker with. For instance, if you need to
log all changes for debugging purposes, @property will make that easy.
But for the bulk of attributes, it's complete overkill.

ChrisA



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