self in Python

by Amit

self keyword is a reference to the invoking class instance/object. Consider the following code:

''' Self really refers to the instance called with '''
class Point:
    
    def __init__(self):
        print 'Self identifier:: ',id(self)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    # create an instance of the class
    p = Point()

    print 'Point object identifier', id(p)
    
    # create an instance of the class
    p = Point()

    print 'Point object identifier', id(p)

As you can see, a class (that does nothing) called Point is defined and then two objects/instances are created. To verify that self is really a reference to the invoking object, we print the identifier for the calling object and self. Unsurprisingly, both are the same.

Update:
Soon after posting this, I realized that self is not a keyword. In fact its just a convention to use self as a reference to the invoking object. You can use anything else, for example, this:

class Point:
    
    def __init__(this):
        print 'This identifier:: ',id(this)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    # create an instance of the class
    p = Point()

    print 'Point object identifier', id(p)
    
    # create an instance of the class
    p = Point()

    print 'Point object identifier', id(p)

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