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    Overloading Constructors

    Uploaded by

    Marcel Chis
    The document discusses overloading constructors in Python. It explains that Python does not support constructor overloading like other languages. Several alternatives are proposed, including using default arguments, keyword arguments, static methods, and class methods to simulate overloaded constructors. The top response recommends using default arguments to accommodate optional fields, by setting missing fields to None as the default value.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Overloading Constructors

    Uploaded by

    Marcel Chis
    19 views2 pages
    The document discusses overloading constructors in Python. It explains that Python does not support constructor overloading like other languages. Several alternatives are proposed, including using default arguments, keyword arguments, static methods, and class methods to simulate overloaded constructors. The top response recommends using default arguments to accommodate optional fields, by setting missing fields to None as the default value.

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    Overloading constructors

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    The document discusses overloading constructors in Python. It explains that Python does not support constructor overloading like other languages. Several alternatives are proposed, including using default arguments, keyword arguments, static methods, and class methods to simulate overloaded constructors. The top response recommends using default arguments to accommodate optional fields, by setting missing fields to None as the default value.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    19 views2 pages

    Overloading Constructors

    Uploaded by

    Marcel Chis
    The document discusses overloading constructors in Python. It explains that Python does not support constructor overloading like other languages. Several alternatives are proposed, including using default arguments, keyword arguments, static methods, and class methods to simulate overloaded constructors. The top response recommends using default arguments to accommodate optional fields, by setting missing fields to None as the default value.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    Overloading constructors

    Overloading constructors
    Hi r/Python I'm working on a script to load a number of datasets into my field format. So the submitted data
    sets may not or may not have all the fields available in my dataset. So I would like to make overloaded
    constructors similar to a method in Java, to accommodate the variability in the field information they have.

    So something like this, although I know I can't actually do this.

    def __init__(field1):
    self.field1 = field1

    def__init__(filed1, field2):
    self.field1 = field1
    self.field2 = field2

    def__init__(field1, field2, field3):


    self.field1 = field1
    self.field2 = field2
    self.field3 = field3

    Thanks

    5 comments
    33% Upvoted
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    level 1
    Kopachris
    3 points · 4 years ago

    Python doesn't do function overloading like other languages do. Do as /u/anossov said and use default
    arguments.

    level 1
    [deleted]
    3 points · 4 years ago

    In addition to the other answer, Python also has keyword arguments.

    def func (opt, **kwargs):


    print(kwargs)
    # kwargs is a regular dictionary so
    # 'if a in kwargs:'
    # or
    # a = kwargs.get(a, None)
    # are both OK

    func (12, a=1, b=2)


    level 1
    anossov
    2 points · 4 years ago

    Do missing fields have default values? If so, default arguments make the most sense:

    def__init__(field1, field2=None, field3=None):


    self.field1 = field1
    self.field2 = field2 # will be set to None if not passed
    self.field3 = field3 # will be set to None if not passed

    1
    Overloading constructors

    level 1

    bheklilr
    0 points · 4 years ago

    A common implementation (i.e. one used in the standard library) is to use staticmethods for multiple
    constructors (which admittedly isn't quite the same as overloaded constructors):

    class MyClass(object):
    # The default constructor
    def __init__(self, field1, field2, field3):
    self.field1 = field1
    self.field2 = field2
    self.field3 = field3

    @staticmethod
    def only_field1(field1):
    return MyClass(field1, None, None)

    @staticmethod
    def missing_field3(field1, field2):
    return MyClass(field1, field2, None)

    Then you would just have

    example1 = MyClass('field1', 'field2', 'field3')


    example2 = MyClass.missing_field3('field1', 'field2')
    example3 = MyClass.only_field1('field1')

    You can see this in particular with the datetime.datetime class, since it has a default constructor taking a
    time representation, but there's also datetime.now and datetime.today where both have unique behavior.

    In your case, since you just have 1, 2 or 3 fields you can get away with just using keyword arguments with
    default values:

    class MyClass(object):
    def __init__(self, field1, field2=None, field3=None):
    self.field1 = field1
    self.field2 = field2
    self.field3 = field3
    level 2
    donnieod
    3 points · 4 years ago

    I think that classmethod is the preferred way of doing this, if you look up datetime.today() and
    datetime.now() they are classmethods not staticmethods. So your alternate constructors would be:

    @classmethod
    def only_field1(cls, field1):
    return cls(field1, None, None)

    @classmethod
    def missing_fiels3(cls, field1, field2):
    return cls(field1, field2, None)

    This has the advantage of not locking in the class name so sub-classing is possible.

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