5.1. OOP Attribute Mutable/Immutable¶

Function and method arguments should not be mutable

5.1.1. Immutable Types¶

int
float
complex
bool
None
str
bytes
tuple
frozenset
mappingproxy

5.1.2. Mutable Types¶

list
set
dict

5.1.3. Problem¶

Let's define a class:

>>> class Astronaut:
...     def __init__(self, name, missions=[]):
...         self.name = name
...         self.missions = missions

Now, we create an instance of a class:

>>> watney = Astronaut('Mark Watney')
>>> lewis = Astronaut('Melissa Lewis')

Check missions for both Astronauts:

>>> watney.missions
[]
>>>
>>> lewis.missions
[]

We will send Mark Watney to three missions: Ares1, Ares2, Ares3:

>>> watney.missions.append('Ares1')
>>> watney.missions.append('Ares2')
>>> watney.missions.append('Ares3')

Now, check the missions once again:

>>> watney.missions
['Ares1', 'Ares2', 'Ares3']
>>>
>>> lewis.missions
['Ares1', 'Ares2', 'Ares3']

This is not a mistake. Both astronauts Mark and Melissa has the same missions despite the fact, that we set values only for Mark! This is because both both Mark and Melissa has attribute missions pointing to the same memory address:

>>> watney.missions == lewis.missions
True
>>>
>>> watney.missions is lewis.missions
True

5.1.4. Why?¶

Note, You should not set mutable objects as a default function argument. More information in Argument Mutability. This is how all dynamically typed languages work (including PHP, Ruby, Perl etc).

The problem lays in __init__() method signature. It consist a reference to the mutable object: list. Python will create a new list instance on class creation, not an instance creation. Therefore each astronaut will reference to the same list which was created when Python interpreted class.

>>> class Astronaut:
...     def __init__(self, name, missions=[]):
...         self.name = name
...         self.missions = missions

However method body is not interpreted on class creation. This is done in a runtime. Creating a new list in method's body will instantiate a new sequence each time the new instance is created. Consider the following code:

>>> class Astronaut:
...     def __init__(self, name, missions=None):
...         self.name = name
...         self.missions = missions if missions else []

None object is a singleton, which can be reused. Also is not a problematic, because we will not append or modify anything to the None itself. As soon as the new instance is created, the __init__() body is evaluated and self.missions is assigned to newly created list instance.

5.1.5. Fix¶

>>> class Astronaut:
...     def __init__(self, name, missions=None):
...         self.name = name
...         self.missions = missions if missions else []
>>>
>>>
>>> watney = Astronaut('Mark Watney')
>>> lewis = Astronaut('Melissa Lewis')
>>>
>>> print(f'Name: {watney.name}, Missions: {watney.missions}')
Name: Mark Watney, Missions: []
>>>
>>> print(f'Name: {lewis.name}, Missions: {lewis.missions}')
Name: Melissa Lewis, Missions: []
>>>
>>> watney.missions.append('Ares1')
>>> watney.missions.append('Ares2')
>>> watney.missions.append('Ares3')
>>>
>>> print(f'Name: {watney.name}, Missions: {watney.missions}')
Name: Mark Watney, Missions: ['Ares1', 'Ares2', 'Ares3']
>>>
>>> print(f'Name: {lewis.name}, Missions: {lewis.missions}')
Name: Melissa Lewis, Missions: []
>>>
>>> watney.missions == lewis.missions
False
>>>
>>> watney.missions is lewis.missions
False