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👉 Tip #50: What is a "method" in Python?

In Python, a method is a function that can be used on an object because of the object's type.

For example, if you create a Python list, the "append" method can be used on that list. All lists have an "append" method simply because they are lists:

If you create a Python string, the "upper" method can be used on that string simply because it's a string:

To be clear, my_list doesn't have an "upper" method and my_string doesn't have an "append" method. That's because methods only exist for a particular object if they have been explicitly defined for that type of object.

☎️ Calling a method

To call a method, the format is object_name.method_name(), and any arguments to the method are listed within the parentheses.

The method implicitly acts on the object being named, and thus some methods don't have any stated arguments since the object itself is the only necessary argument. For example, my_string.upper() doesn't have any listed arguments because the only required argument is the object itself, my_string.

📓 What about modules?

One common point of confusion relates to the following:

Is "sqrt" a method of the "math" object? No. Instead, this is how you call the "sqrt" function from the "math" module.

The format being used here is module_name.function_name() instead of object_name.method_name().

You can distinguish between the two formats by examining the imports to see whether or not the part before the period ("math", "my_list", "my_string") was imported as a module.

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👋 See you on Thursday!

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- Kevin

P.S. Playing a prank on Google Street View​

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