Class properties and object properties

SuperZE allansuperze at gmail.com
Mon Oct 6 09:08:45 EDT 2008


Learning python I was rewriting some of my old programs to see the
pros and cons of python when a steped in some weird (at least for me)
behavior.

Here it is simplified

The code:

>>> class Test1:
	myList = [4 for n in range(4)]
	myInt = 4
>>> a = Test1()
>>> b = Test1()
>>> a.myList
[4, 4, 4, 4]
>>> a.myInt
4
>>> b.myList
[4, 4, 4, 4]
>>> b.myInt
4
>>> b.myList[2] = 3
>>> b.myInt = 3
>>> b.myList
[4, 4, 3, 4]
>>> b.myInt
3
>>> a.myList
[4, 4, 3, 4]
>>> a.myInt
4


I would not expect the second a.myList to have changed as it did
since, for me, I have only changed b.myList. And also, why only the
list changed and not the integer?

One thing i tried was:

>>> class Test2:
	myList = []
	myInt = 4
	def __init__(self):
		self.myList = [4 for n in range(4)]

>>> a = Test2()
>>> b = Test2()
>>> a.myList
[4, 4, 4, 4]
>>> b.myList
[4, 4, 4, 4]
>>> b.myList[2] = 3
>>> b.myList
[4, 4, 3, 4]
>>> a.myList
[4, 4, 4, 4]


And as you see it worked as I expected.

Now the question, why?



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