Normal way:
class A: def __init__(self): self.a.b.c = 10 def another_method(self): self.a.b.c = self.a.b.c * 10
Aliased approach:
class A: def __init__(self): self.a.b.c = 10 alias self.aliased = self.a.b.c # Creates an alias def another_method(self): self.aliased = self.aliased * 10 # Updates value of self.a.b.c
How does one accomplish aliasing in Python? The reason I want to do this is to reduce cluttering due to long variable names. It’s a multi threaded environment, so simply copying to a local variable will not work.
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Answer
The solution to this is to use getter and setter methods – fortunately Python has the property()
builtin to hide the ugliness of this:
class A: def __init__(self): self.a.b.c = 10 @property def aliased(self): return self.a.b.c @aliased.setter def aliased(self, value): self.a.b.c = value def another_method(self): self.aliased *= 10 # Updates value of self.a.b.c
Generally, deeply nested attributes like self.a.b.c
are a sign of bad design – you generally don’t want classes to have to know about objects that are 3 relationships away – it means that changes to a given item can cause problems throughout your code base. It’s a better idea to try and make each class deal with the classes around it, and no further.