[Tutor] method, type?

[Alan Gauld]

On 06/01/16 04:58, Alex Kleider wrote:

> class JournalLineItem(object):
>      def __init__(self, account, debit_or_credit, amount):
>          self.account = account
>          self.debit_or_credit = debit_or_credit
>          self.amount = float(amount)
> 
...
>      def get_line_item(text):
>          return JournalLineItem(*text.split())

> What kind of a method/function is get_line_item?

As it stands its not.
As its intended to be, its a named constructor.
But Python doesn't support named constructors so instead it
could be a class method - that is a method of the class
rather than of a particular instance.

But it should probably be a factory function. That is,
defined at the module level and not part of the class
at all. Not everything in OOP needs to be in a class.


-- 
Alan G
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