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Object-Oriented Programming in Python

Dive in and learn how to create classes and leverage inheritance and polymorphism to reuse and optimize code.

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4 Hours13 Videos44 Exercises36,403 Learners
3600 XP

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Course Description

Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a widely used programming paradigm that reduces development times—making it easier to read, reuse, and maintain your code. OOP shifts the focus from thinking about code as a sequence of actions to looking at your program as a collection of objects that interact with each other. In this course, you’ll learn how to create classes, which act as the blueprints for every object in Python. You’ll then leverage principles called inheritance and polymorphism to reuse and optimize code. Dive in and learn how to create beautiful code that’s clean and efficient!

  1. 1

    OOP Fundamentals

    Free

    In this chapter, you'll learn what object-oriented programming (OOP) is, how it differs from procedural-programming, and how it can be applied. You'll then define your own classes, and learn how to create methods, attributes, and constructors.

    Play Chapter Now
    What is OOP?
    50 xp
    OOP termininology
    100 xp
    Exploring object interface
    100 xp
    Class anatomy: attributes and methods
    50 xp
    Understanding class definitions
    100 xp
    Create your first class
    100 xp
    Using attributes in class definition
    100 xp
    Class anatomy: the __init__ constructor
    50 xp
    Correct use of __init__
    50 xp
    Add a class constructor
    100 xp
    Write a class from scratch
    100 xp
  2. 2

    Inheritance and Polymorphism

    Inheritance and polymorphism are the core concepts of OOP that enable efficient and consistent code reuse. Learn how to inherit from a class, customize and redefine methods, and review the differences between class-level data and instance-level data.

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    Instance and class data
    50 xp
    Class-level attributes
    100 xp
    Changing class attributes
    100 xp
    Alternative constructors
    100 xp
    Class inheritance
    50 xp
    Understanding inheritance
    100 xp
    Create a subclass
    100 xp
    Customizing functionality via inheritance
    50 xp
    Method inheritance
    100 xp
    Inheritance of class attributes
    100 xp
    Customizing a DataFrame
    100 xp
  3. 3

    Integrating with Standard Python

    In this chapter, you'll learn how to make sure that objects that store the same data are considered equal, how to define and customize string representations of objects, and even how to create new error types. Through interactive exercises, you’ll learn how to further customize your classes to make them work more like standard Python data types.

    Play Chapter Now
    Operator overloading: comparison
    50 xp
    Overloading equality
    100 xp
    Checking class equality
    100 xp
    Comparison and inheritance
    100 xp
    Operator overloading: string representation
    50 xp
    String formatting review
    100 xp
    String representation of objects
    100 xp
    Exceptions
    50 xp
    Catching exceptions
    100 xp
    Custom exceptions
    100 xp
    Handling exception hierarchies
    100 xp
  4. 4

    Best Practices of Class Design

    How do you design classes for inheritance? Does Python have private attributes? Is it possible to control attribute access? You'll find answers to these questions (and more) as you learn class design best practices.

    Play Chapter Now
    Designing for inheritance and polymorphism
    50 xp
    Polymorphic methods
    50 xp
    Square and rectangle
    100 xp
    Managing data access: private attributes
    50 xp
    Attribute naming conventions
    100 xp
    Using internal attributes
    100 xp
    Properties
    50 xp
    What do properties do?
    50 xp
    Create and set properties
    100 xp
    Read-only properties
    100 xp
    Congratulations!
    50 xp

In the following tracks

Data EngineerPython ProgrammerPython Programming

Collaborators

Maggie MatsuiAmy Peterson

Prerequisites

Writing Functions in Python
Alex Yarosh Headshot

Alex Yarosh

Curriculum Developer @ Cockroach Labs

Alex is a software engineer and mathematician. They currently work at Cockroach Labs - the company behind CockroachDB - where they develop online product trainings. They like cats, teaching, and trains.
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