How to explain an attribute in Python to a novice

Question

Can anyone explain in simple words what an attribute in Python language is?

For instance what can I say about

list.append(x)

which adds

Answer 1

You might put off explaining until you've introduced your student to class and the idea that a function can be assigned to a variable just as a number or a data structure can be assigned. At this point it is obvious that a method is an attribute in the same way that a stored value is an attribute. Compare count and bump in

class Counter( object):
   def __init__( self, initial=0):
      self.count=initial
   def bump(self):
      self.count += 1
      print( "count = {0}".format( self.count) )

count is an integer attribute. bump is a "bound method" attribute (commonly just called a method). list.append is another such attribute.

>>> d=Counter()
>>> d.bump()
count = 1
>>> d.bump
>
>>> d.count
1
>>> dir(d)
['__class__', '__delattr__', '__dict__', '__dir__', '__doc__', '__eq__',  '__format__', '__ge__', '__getattribute__', '__gt__', '__hash__', '__init__', '__le__', '__lt__', '__module__', '__ne__', '__new__', '__reduce__', '__reduce_ex__', '__repr__', '__setattr__', '__sizeof__', '__str__', '__subclasshook__', '__weakref__',
 'bump', 'count']

(in particular the last two and your __init__. The rest are inherited from object).

Alternatively, tell him that it's a method and don't (yet) mention that a method is an attribute. Attribute: data attached to an object. Method: function attached to an object (usually for the purpose of manipulating the attached data in some way).