6.2: Attributes
- Page ID
- 15447
You can assign values to an instance using dot notation:
>>> blank.x = 3.0 >>> blank.y = 4.0
This syntax is similar to the syntax for selecting a variable from a module, such as math.pi
or string.whitespace
. In this case, though, we are assigning values to named elements of an object. These elements are called attributes.
As a noun, “AT-trib-ute” is pronounced with emphasis on the first syllable, as opposed to “a-TRIB-ute,” which is a verb.
The following diagram shows the result of these assignments. A state diagram that shows an object and its attributes is called an object diagram; see Figure 15.2.1.

The variable blank
refers to a Point object, which contains two attributes. Each attribute refers to a floating-point number.
You can read the value of an attribute using the same syntax:
>>> print blank.y 4.0 >>> x = blank.x >>> print x 3.0
The expression blank.x
means, “Go to the object blank
refers to and get the value of x.” In this case, we assign that value to a variable named x
. There is no conflict between the variable x
and the attribute x
.
You can use dot notation as part of any expression. For example:
>>> print '(%g, %g)' % (blank.x, blank.y) (3.0, 4.0) >>> distance = math.sqrt(blank.x**2 + blank.y**2) >>> print distance 5.0
You can pass an instance as an argument in the usual way. For example:
def print_point(p): print '(%g, %g)' % (p.x, p.y)
print_point
takes a point as an argument and displays it in mathematical notation. To invoke it, you can pass blank
as an argument:
>>> print_point(blank) (3.0, 4.0)
Inside the function, p
is an alias for blank
, so if the function modifies p
, blank
changes.
Exercise \(\PageIndex{1}\)
Write a function called distance_between_points
that takes two Points as arguments and returns the distance between them.