Python Classes Made Simple: From Daunting to Mastery

Jenny Ouyang
6 min readOct 23, 2024
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A few years ago, when I was still a newbie in programming, I’d often stick the most basic data structures like lists and dictionary to handle everything in my projects. They were my comfort zone!

But, as we all know, real-world work doesn’t always fit neatly into what makes us comfortable. As my projects grew more complex, I started running into all sorts of new data structures — some simple and elegant, others complex but necessary. A lot of these revolved around classes, and that’s when it hit me: it was time to embrace the change. Now I’m so happy to say that using classes has made my code so much cleaner, more organized, and a lot more fun to work with.

Python, of course, makes this transition easier with its wide variety of tools for defining and working with classes. In this blog, we’ll dive into10 different methods to create and use classes in Python, when to use each, their pros and cons, speed considerations, and how they compare to other methods.

1. Basic Class Definition

A class is created using the class keyword followed by the class name, and methods or attributes can be defined inside it.

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Jenny Ouyang
Jenny Ouyang

Written by Jenny Ouyang

✨️Thank you for following me and joining my journey. A Programmer | PhD | Parent passionate about tech, AI, housing, and the intricacies of human nature.