Object-Oriented Programming in Python

What is OOP?

Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) organizes code around objects — things that have data (attributes) and actions (methods). A class is the blueprint; an object is a real item made from it.

Class and Object

class Dog:
    sound = "Bark"      # attribute shared by all dogs

d1 = Dog()              # create an object
print(d1.sound)

class Dog is the blueprint; d1 = Dog() makes one real dog object.

__init__ Constructor

__init__ runs automatically when an object is created. It sets up each object's own data. self refers to the current object.

class Student:
    def __init__(self, name, marks):
        self.name = name
        self.marks = marks

s1 = Student("Aman", 95)
print(s1.name, s1.marks)

Program 1: Student Class

class Student:
    def __init__(self, name, roll, marks):
        self.name = name
        self.roll = roll
        self.marks = marks

s1 = Student("Aman", 1, 88)
s2 = Student("Riya", 2, 95)
print(s1.name, "scored", s1.marks)
print(s2.name, "scored", s2.marks)

One class, two independent objects — each keeps its own name, roll and marks.

Program 2: Methods (Behaviour)

A method is a function inside a class that acts on the object's data.

class Student:
    def __init__(self, name, marks):
        self.name = name
        self.marks = marks

    def result(self):
        return "PASS" if self.marks >= 33 else "FAIL"

s1 = Student("Aman", 75)
print(s1.name, ":", s1.result())

Program 3: Inheritance

Inheritance lets a class reuse another class's code. The child gets everything from the parent and can add more.

class Person:
    def __init__(self, name):
        self.name = name
    def greet(self):
        print("Hi, I am", self.name)

class Teacher(Person):       # Teacher inherits Person
    def teach(self):
        print(self.name, "is teaching")

t = Teacher("Mr. Rao")
t.greet()    # from Person
t.teach()    # from Teacher

Teacher(Person) means Teacher inherits Person — it can use greet() for free.

Program 4: Bank Account (Encapsulation)

class BankAccount:
    def __init__(self, owner, balance=0):
        self.owner = owner
        self.balance = balance

    def deposit(self, amount):
        self.balance += amount

    def withdraw(self, amount):
        if amount > self.balance:
            print("Insufficient funds")
        else:
            self.balance -= amount

acc = BankAccount("Aman", 1000)
acc.deposit(500)
acc.withdraw(300)
print("Balance:", acc.balance)

The data (balance) and the actions on it (deposit, withdraw) live together — this is encapsulation.

Four Pillars of OOP

Common Mistakes

• Forgetting self as the first parameter of methods.
• Forgetting brackets when creating an object: Student vs Student().
• Mixing up the class (blueprint) with the object (real item).

Practice Tasks

1. Make a Car class with brand and speed, and a method to show details.
2. Add a method to the Student class that prints the grade.
3. Create a Animal parent and Dog/Cat children that override a sound() method.
4. Build a simple Rectangle class with an area() method.

Summary

• OOP organizes code into classes (blueprints) and objects (real items).
• __init__ sets up each object; self is the current object.
• Methods are functions inside a class; inheritance reuses code.
• Four pillars: encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism, abstraction.