Object-Oriented Programming Tutorial

Welcome to this tutorial on object-oriented programming (OOP)! OOP is a fundamental concept in software development, allowing you to model real-world objects and their interactions in code. This tutorial will cover the basics of OOP, including classes, objects, inheritance, and polymorphism.

Classes and Objects

The building blocks of OOP are classes and objects. A class is a blueprint for creating objects, which are instances of a class.

class Car:
    def __init__(self, make, model, year):
        self.make = make
        self.model = model
        self.year = year

    def drive(self):
        print(f"The {self.year} {self.make} {self.model} is driving.")

Creating Objects

To create an object, you use the class name followed by parentheses:

my_car = Car("Toyota", "Corolla", 2020)

Toyota Car

Inheritance

Inheritance allows you to create a new class (derived class) based on an existing class (base class). This allows you to reuse and extend the functionality of the base class.

class ElectricCar(Car):
    def __init__(self, make, model, year, battery_size):
        super().__init__(make, model, year)
        self.battery_size = battery_size

    def charge(self):
        print(f"Charging the {self.year} {self.make} {self.model} with a battery size of {self.battery_size} kWh.")

Extending Classes

You can extend the ElectricCar class with additional functionality specific to electric cars.

class HybridCar(Car):
    def __init__(self, make, model, year, engine_size, battery_size):
        super().__init__(make, model, year)
        self.engine_size = engine_size
        self.battery_size = battery_size

    def drive(self):
        if self.battery_size > 0:
            print(f"The {self.year} {self.make} {self.model} is driving on battery power.")
        else:
            print(f"The {self.year} {self.make} {self.model} is driving on engine power.")

Hybrid Car

Polymorphism

Polymorphism allows objects of different classes to be treated as objects of a common superclass. This is particularly useful when you want to write code that operates on a group of objects without needing to know their specific types.

def display_make_and_model(car):
    print(f"Make: {car.make}, Model: {car.model}")

my_cars = [my_car, electric_car, hybrid_car]
for car in my_cars:
    display_make_and_model(car)

Polymorphism

For more information on object-oriented programming, check out our comprehensive guide on OOP Fundamentals.