Class and Object Terms

The foundations of Object-Oriented Programming is defining a Class

  • In Object-Oriented Programming (OOP), a class is a blueprint for creating an Object. (a data structure). An Object is used like many other Python variables.
  • A Class has ...
    • a collection of data, these are called Attributes and in Python are pre-fixed using the keyword self
    • a collection of Functions/Procedures. These are called *Methods when they exist inside a Class definition.
  • An Object is created from the Class/Template. Characteristics of objects ...
    • an Object is an Instance of the Class/Template
    • there can be many Objects created from the same Class
    • each Object contains its own Instance Data
    • the data is setup by the Constructor, this is the "init" method in a Python class
    • all methods in the Class/Template become part of the Object, methods are accessed using dot notation (object.method())
  • A Python Class allow for the definition of @ decorators, these allow access to instance data without the use of functions ...
    • @property decorator (aka getter). This enables developers to reference/get instance data in a shorthand fashion (object.name versus object.get_name())
    • @name.setter decorator (aka setter). This enables developers to update/set instance data in a shorthand fashion (object.name = "John" versus object.set_name("John"))
    • observe all instance data (self._name, self.email ...) are prefixed with "", this convention allows setters and getters to work with more natural variable name (name, email ...)

Class and Object Code

# Werkzeug is a collection of libraries that can be used to create a WSGI (Web Server Gateway Interface)
# A gateway in necessary as a web server cannot communicate directly with Python.
# In this case, imports are focused on generating hash code to protect passwords.
from werkzeug.security import generate_password_hash, check_password_hash
import json

# Define a User Class/Template
# -- A User represents the data we want to manage
class User:    
    # constructor of a User object, initializes the instance variables within object (self)
    def __init__(self, name, uid, password):
        self._name = name    # variables with self prefix become part of the object, 
        self._uid = uid
        self.set_password(password)

    # a name getter method, extracts name from object
    @property
    def name(self):
        return self._name
    
    # a setter function, allows name to be updated after initial object creation
    @name.setter
    def name(self, name):
        self._name = name
    
    # a getter method, extracts email from object
    @property
    def uid(self):
        return self._uid
    
    # a setter function, allows name to be updated after initial object creation
    @uid.setter
    def uid(self, uid):
        self._uid = uid
        
    # check if uid parameter matches user id in object, return boolean
    def is_uid(self, uid):
        return self._uid == uid
    
    @property
    def password(self):
        return self._password[0:10] + "..." # because of security only show 1st characters

    # update password, this is conventional setter
    def set_password(self, password):
        """Create a hashed password."""
        self._password = generate_password_hash(password, method='sha256')

    # check password parameter versus stored/encrypted password
    def is_password(self, password):
        """Check against hashed password."""
        result = check_password_hash(self._password, password)
        return result
    
    # output content using str(object) in human readable form, uses getter
    def __str__(self):
        return f'name: "{self.name}", id: "{self.uid}", psw: "{self.password}"'

    # output command to recreate the object, uses attribute directly
    def __repr__(self):
        return f'Person(name={self._name}, uid={self._uid}, password={self._password})'


# tester method to print users
def tester(users, uid, psw):
    result = None
    for user in users:
        # test for match in database
        if user.uid == uid and user.is_password(psw):  # check for match
            print("* ", end="")
            result = user
        # print using __str__ method
        print(str(user))
    return result
        

# place tester code inside of special if!  This allows include without tester running
if __name__ == "__main__":

    # define user objects
    u1 = User(name='Thomas Edison', uid='toby', password='123toby')
    u2 = User(name='Nicholas Tesla', uid='nick', password='123nick')
    u3 = User(name='Alexander Graham Bell', uid='lex', password='123lex')
    u4 = User(name='Eli Whitney', uid='eli', password='123eli')
    u5 = User(name='Hedy Lemarr', uid='hedy', password='123hedy')

    # put user objects in list for convenience
    users = [u1, u2, u3, u4, u5]

    # Find user
    print("Test 1, find user 3")
    u = tester(users, u3.uid, "123lex")


    # Change user
    print("Test 2, change user 3")
    u.name = "John Mortensen"
    u.uid = "jm1021"
    u.set_password("123qwerty")
    u = tester(users, u.uid, "123qwerty")


    # Make dictionary
    ''' 
    The __dict__ in Python represents a dictionary or any mapping object that is used to store the attributes of the object. 
    Every object in Python has an attribute that is denoted by __dict__. 
    Use the json.dumps() method to convert the list of Users to a JSON string.
    '''
    print("Test 3, make a dictionary")
    json_string = json.dumps([user.__dict__ for user in users]) 
    print(json_string)

    print("Test 4, make a dictionary")
    json_string = json.dumps([vars(user) for user in users]) 
    print(json_string)
Test 1, find user 3
name: "Thomas Edison", id: "toby", psw: "sha256$ukl..."
name: "Nicholas Tesla", id: "nick", psw: "sha256$Rkh..."
* name: "Alexander Graham Bell", id: "lex", psw: "sha256$NEY..."
name: "Eli Whitney", id: "eli", psw: "sha256$gVu..."
name: "Hedy Lemarr", id: "hedy", psw: "sha256$ENi..."
Test 2, change user 3
name: "Thomas Edison", id: "toby", psw: "sha256$ukl..."
name: "Nicholas Tesla", id: "nick", psw: "sha256$Rkh..."
* name: "John Mortensen", id: "jm1021", psw: "sha256$Qwg..."
name: "Eli Whitney", id: "eli", psw: "sha256$gVu..."
name: "Hedy Lemarr", id: "hedy", psw: "sha256$ENi..."
Test 3, make a dictionary
[{"_name": "Thomas Edison", "_uid": "toby", "_password": "sha256$uklhsRhH7d4jzDoj$40c9e846282b0b14e87178fc1c3b53cd8a79f705131550e5f6c97bf9596e79a3"}, {"_name": "Nicholas Tesla", "_uid": "nick", "_password": "sha256$Rkh6P8MDJWRg53zU$9cba3f8c538eccc279fe6067cb021f090fc0cf4b39e3dbab44629247fc051471"}, {"_name": "John Mortensen", "_uid": "jm1021", "_password": "sha256$QwgKSkTOjioJ8NfF$4a2e2c4d2782ca7ec4df31599e7a87b6f995fbd340831c4cd72f9c5b29f7e9b2"}, {"_name": "Eli Whitney", "_uid": "eli", "_password": "sha256$gVu1Ptc22iAPbJYk$41434254cc32521f34d6dcd137c1ed08e283da82100a2d5c38db3bea9953b13a"}, {"_name": "Hedy Lemarr", "_uid": "hedy", "_password": "sha256$ENiVj5CJ7UmSe0yd$6c0b8de87fb06f23c1d885287a89b07bb5b0337d3d5482236c465d43505f1d24"}]
Test 4, make a dictionary
[{"_name": "Thomas Edison", "_uid": "toby", "_password": "sha256$uklhsRhH7d4jzDoj$40c9e846282b0b14e87178fc1c3b53cd8a79f705131550e5f6c97bf9596e79a3"}, {"_name": "Nicholas Tesla", "_uid": "nick", "_password": "sha256$Rkh6P8MDJWRg53zU$9cba3f8c538eccc279fe6067cb021f090fc0cf4b39e3dbab44629247fc051471"}, {"_name": "John Mortensen", "_uid": "jm1021", "_password": "sha256$QwgKSkTOjioJ8NfF$4a2e2c4d2782ca7ec4df31599e7a87b6f995fbd340831c4cd72f9c5b29f7e9b2"}, {"_name": "Eli Whitney", "_uid": "eli", "_password": "sha256$gVu1Ptc22iAPbJYk$41434254cc32521f34d6dcd137c1ed08e283da82100a2d5c38db3bea9953b13a"}, {"_name": "Hedy Lemarr", "_uid": "hedy", "_password": "sha256$ENiVj5CJ7UmSe0yd$6c0b8de87fb06f23c1d885287a89b07bb5b0337d3d5482236c465d43505f1d24"}]
import datetime

class User:
    def __init__(self, name, uid, password, classOf, dob):
        self._name = name
        self._uid = uid
        self.set_password(password)
        self._classOf = classOf
        self._dob = dob
        self._age = self.calculate_age()
        
    # classOf setter and getter
    @property
    def classOf(self):
        return self._classOf
    
    @classOf.setter
    def classOf(self, classOf):
        self._classOf = classOf
    
    # dob setter and getter
    @property
    def dob(self):
        return self._dob
    
    @dob.setter
    def dob(self, dob):
        self._dob = dob
        self._age = self.calculate_age()
    
    # age getter
    @property
    def age(self):
        return self._age
    
    def calculate_age(self):
        today = datetime.datetime.now()
        age = today.year - self._dob.year - ((today.month, today.day) < (self._dob.month, self._dob.day))
        return age
    
    # the rest of the class methods ...

NOTE This code will be customized to my project, it is in the works of creating specific names and variables.

Hacks

Add new attributes/variables to the Class. Make class specific to your CPT work.

  • Add classOf attribute to define year of graduation
    • Add setter and getter for classOf
  • Add dob attribute to define date of birth
    • This will require investigation into Python datetime objects as shown in example code below
    • Add setter and getter for dob
  • Add instance variable for age, make sure if dob changes age changes
    • Add getter for age, but don't add/allow setter for age
  • Update and format tester function to work with changes

Start a class design for each of your own Full Stack CPT sections of your project

  • Use new code cell in this notebook
  • Define init and self attributes
  • Define setters and getters
  • Make a tester

Start Code for Hacks

from datetime import date

def calculate_age(born):
    today = date.today()
    return today.year - born.year - ((today.month, today.day) < (born.month, born.day))

dob = date(2004, 12, 31)
age = calculate_age(dob)
print(age)