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I am trying to verify the difference between instance attributes and class attributes as laid out by the Python tutorial release 2.7.3 dated Nov 01, 2012, chapter 9: Classes, Page 66 last line (source):

Valid method names of an instance object depend on its class. By definition, all attributes of a class that are function objects define corresponding methods of its instances. So in our example, x.f is a valid method reference, since MyClass.f is a function, but x.i is not, since MyClass.i is not. But x.f is not the same thing as MyClass.f — it is a method object, not a function object.

I have this:

class MyClass:    
   """A simple example class"""    
   i = 12345   
   def f():    
      return 'hello world'

Then I do this:

>>> x = MyClass()
>>> x.f
<bound method MyClass.f of <__main__.MyClass instance at 0x02BB8968>>
>>> MyClass.f
<unbound method MyClass.f>
>>> type(MyClass.f)
<type 'instancemethod'>
>>> type(x.f)
<type 'instancemethod'>

Note that the type of both x.f and MyClass.f is instancemethod. There is no difference in types but the tutorial says otherwise. Can someone please clarify?

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2 Answers 2

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29

Bound vs Unbound Methods - an explanation.

... or why Python has the behaviour you point out.

So, first off, a note that this is different in 3.x. In 3.x, you will get MyClass.f being a function, and x.f as a method - as expected. This behaviour is essentially a poor design decision that has later been changed.

The reason for this is that Python has the concept of a method that is different to most languages, which is essentially a function with the first argument pre-filled as the instance (self). This pre-filling makes a bound method.

>>> x.foo
<bound method MyClass.foo of <__main__.MyClass instance at 0x1004989e0>>

In Python 2.x and before, it was reasoned that a method not attached to an instance would be an unbound method, which was a function with the restriction that the first argument (self), must be an instance of the object. This is then ready to be bound to an instance and become a bound method.

>>> MyClass.foo
<unbound method MyClass.foo>

With time, it became clear an unbound method is really just a function with this odd restriction that didn't really matter (that self must be of the 'correct' type), so they were removed from the language (in 3.x). This is essentially duck-typing self, which suits the language.

Python 3.3.0 (default, Dec  4 2012, 00:30:24) 
>>> x.foo
<bound method MyClass.foo of <__main__.MyClass object at 0x100858ed0>>
>>> MyClass.foo
<function MyClass.foo at 0x10084f9e0>

Further reading.

This is a (condensed, from memory) explanation which can be read in full from Python creator Guido van Rossum's own mouth in his 'History of Python' series.

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Comments

13

The tutorial is indeed wrong; both class.functionname and instance.functionname return a method object.

What goes on is that a function is a descriptor and their __get__ method is invoked, returning a method. Methods have a __func__ attribute pointing back to the original function:

>>> class Foo(object):
...     def bar(self):
...         pass
... 
>>> Foo.bar
<unbound method Foo.bar>
>>> Foo().bar
<bound method Foo.bar of <__main__.Foo object at 0x1090d6f10>>
>>> # accessing the original function
...
>>> Foo.bar.__func__
<function bar at 0x1090cc488>
>>> # turning a function back into a method
...
>>> Foo.bar.__func__.__get__(None, Foo)
<unbound method Foo.bar>
>>> Foo.bar.__func__.__get__(Foo(), Foo)
<bound method Foo.bar of <__main__.Foo object at 0x1090d6f90>>

This all has changed in Python 3 though; there Foo.bar returns the function itself, unbound methods no longer exist:

$ python3.3
Python 3.3.0 (default, Sep 29 2012, 08:16:08) 
[GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple Clang 3.1 (tags/Apple/clang-318.0.58)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> class Foo:
...     def bar(self):
...         pass
... 
>>> Foo.bar
<function Foo.bar at 0x105512dd0>
>>> Foo.bar.__get__(None, Foo)
<function Foo.bar at 0x105512dd0>
>>> Foo.bar.__get__(Foo(), Foo)
<bound method Foo.bar of <__main__.Foo object at 0x10552fe10>>
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15 Comments

Great answer, I learned a couple of interesting things with it.
Tutorial is not wrong. Difference is explained in last para of section 9.3.4 Method objects.
@haccks: that doesn't make the statement on that one line correct, however.
That mean you think that there is no difference in function object and method object?
@haccks: no, there is a huge difference.
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