Can I override a class function without creating a new class in Python?

Question

I\'m making a game in pygame and I have made an \'abstract\' class that\'s sole job is to store the sprites for a given level (with the intent of having these level objects in a

Answer 1

Yes, it's doable. Here, I use functools.partial to get the implied self argument into a regular (non-class-method) function:

import functools

class WackyCount(object):
    "it's a counter, but it has one wacky method"
    def __init__(self, name, value):
        self.name = name
        self.value = value
    def __str__(self):
        return '%s = %d' % (self.name, self.value)
    def incr(self):
        self.value += 1
    def decr(self):
        self.value -= 1
    def wacky_incr(self):
        self.value += random.randint(5, 9)

# although x is a regular wacky counter...
x = WackyCount('spam', 1)
# it increments like crazy:
def spam_incr(self):
    self.value *= 2
x.incr = functools.partial(spam_incr, x)

print (x)
x.incr()
print (x)
x.incr()
print (x)
x.incr()
print (x)

and:

$ python2.7 wacky.py
spam = 1
spam = 2
spam = 4
spam = 8
$ python3.2 wacky.py    
spam = 1
spam = 2
spam = 4
spam = 8

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Edit to add note: this is a per-instance override. It takes advantage of Python's attribute look-up sequence: if x is an instance of class K, then x.attrname starts by looking at x's dictionary to find the attribute. If not found, the next lookup is in K. All the normal class functions are actually K.func. So if you want to replace the class function dynamically, use @Brian Cane's answer instead.