Inheritance and init method in Python

Question

I'm begginer of python. I can't understand inheritance and __init__().

class Num:
    def __init__(self,num):
        self.n1 = num

class Num2(Num):
    def show(self):
        print self.n1

mynumber = Num2(8)
mynumber.show()

RESULT: 8

This is OK. But I replace Num2 with

class Num2(Num):
    def __init__(self,num):
        self.n2 = num*2
    def show(self):
        print self.n1,self.n2

RESULT: Error. Num2 has no attribute "n1".

In this case, how can Num2 access n1?

Answer 1

In the first situation, Num2 is extending the class Num and since you are not redefining the special method named __init__() in Num2, it gets inherited from Num.

When a class defines an __init__() method, class instantiation automatically invokes __init__() for the newly-created class instance.

In the second situation, since you are redefining __init__() in Num2 you need to explicitly call the one in the super class (Num) if you want to extend its behavior.

class Num2(Num):
    def __init__(self,num):
        Num.__init__(self,num)
        self.n2 = num*2

Answer 2

When you override the init you have also to call the init of the parent class

super(Num2, self).__init__(num)

Understanding Python super() with __init__() methods

Answer 3

Since you don't call Num.__init__ , the field "n1" never gets created. Call it and then it will be there.