# 5. Introduction to Python classes and objects

We have now learned how to run some simple Python code from inside (and outside) your game server. We have also taken a look at what our game dir looks and what is where. Now we’ll start to use it.

## 5.1. Importing things

No one writes something as big as an online game in one single huge file. Instead one breaks up the code into separate files (modules). Each module is dedicated to different purposes. Not only does it make things cleaner, organized and easier to understand. It also makes it easier to re-use code - you just import the resources you need and know you only get just what you requested. This makes it much easier to find errors and to know what code is good and which has issues.

> Evennia itself uses your code in the same way - you just tell it where a particular type of code is, and it will import and use it (often instead of its defaults).

We have already successfully imported things, for example:

    > py import world.test ; world.test.hello_world(me)
    Hello World!

In this example, on your hard drive, the files looks like this:

    mygame/
        world/
            test.py    <- inside this file is a function hello_world

If you followed earlier tutorial lessons, the `mygame/world/test.py` file should look like this (if not, make it so):

    def hello_world(who):
        who.msg("Hello World!")

The python_path describes the relation between Python resources, both between and inside Python modules (that is, files ending with .py). A python-path separates each part of the path `.` and always skips the `.py` file endings. Also, Evennia already knows to start looking for python resources inside `mygame/` so this should never be specified. Hence

    import world.test

The `import` Python instruction loads `world.test` so you have it available. You can now go “into” this module to get to the function you want:

    world.test.hello_world(me)

Using `import` like this means that you have to specify the full `world.test` every time you want to get to your function. Here’s a more powerful form of import:

    from world.test import hello_world

The `from ... import ...` is very, very common as long as you want to get something with a longer python path. It imports `hello_world` directly, so you can use it right away!

     > py from world.test import hello_world ; hello_world(me)
     Hello World!

Let’s say your `test.py` module had a bunch of interesting functions. You could then import them all one by one:

    from world.test import hello_world, my_func, awesome_func

If there were a lot of functions, you could instead just import `test` and get the function from there when you need (without having to give the full `world.test` every time):

    > from world import test ; test.hello_world(me
    Hello World!

You can also rename stuff you import. Say for example that the module you import to already has a function `hello_world` but we also want to use the one from `world/test.py`:

    from world.test import hello_world as test_hello_world

The form `from ... import ... as ...` renames the import.

    > from world.test import hello_world as hw ; hw(me)
    Hello World!

> Avoid renaming unless it’s to avoid a name-collistion like above - you want to make things as easy to read as possible, and renaming adds another layer of potential confusion.

In the basic intro to Python we learned how to open the in-game multi-line interpreter.

    > py
    Evennia Interactive Python mode
    Python 3.7.1 (default, Oct 22 2018, 11:21:55)
    [GCC 8.2.0] on Linux
    [py mode - quit() to exit]

You now only need to import once to use the imported function over and over.

    > from world.test import hello_world
    > hello_world()
    Hello World!
    > hello_world()
    Hello World!
    > hello_world()
    Hello World!
    > quit()
    Closing the Python console.

The same goes when writing code in a module - in most Python modules you will see a bunch of imports at the top, resources that are then used by all code in that module.

## 5.2. On classes and objects

Now that we know about imports, let look at a real Evennia module and try to understand it.

Open `mygame/typeclasses/objects.py` in your text editor of choice.

    """
    module docstring
    """
    from evennia import DefaultObject

    class Object(DefaultObject):
        """
        class docstring
        """
        pass

The real file is much longer but we can ignore the multi-line strings (`""" ... """`). These serve as documentation-strings, or docstrings for the module (at the top) and the `class` below.

Below the module doc string we have the import. In this case we are importing a resource from the core `evennia` library itself. We will dive into this later, for now we just treat this as a black box.

Next we have a `class` named `Object`, which inherits from `DefaultObject`. This class doesn’t actually do anything on its own, its only code (except the docstring) is `pass` which means, well, to pass and don’t do anything.

We will get back to this module in the next lesson. First we need to do a little detour to understand what a ‘class’, an ‘object’ or ‘instance’ is. These are fundamental things to understand before you can use Evennia efficiently.

### 5.2.1. Classes and instances

A ‘class’ can be seen as a ‘template’ for a ‘type’ of object. The class describes the basic functionality of everyone of that class. For example, we could have a class `Monster` which has resources for moving itself from room to room.

Open a new file `mygame/typeclasses/monsters.py`. Add the following simple class:

    class Monster:

        key = "Monster"

        def move_around(self):
            print(f"{self.key} is moving!")

Above we have defined a `Monster` class with one variable `key` (that is, the name) and one method on it. A method is like a function except it sits “on” the class. It also always has at least one argument (almost always written as `self` although you could in principle use another name), which is a reference back to itself. So when we print `self.key` we are referring back to the `key` on the class.

A class is just a template. Before it can be used, we must create an instance of the class. If `Monster` is a class, then an instance is Fluffy, the individual red dragon. You instantiate by calling the class, much like you would a function:

    fluffy = Monster()

Let’s try it in-game (we use multi-line mode, it’s easier)

    > py
    > from typeclasses.monsters import Monster
    > fluffy = Monster()
    > fluffy.move_around()
    Monster is moving!

We created an instance of `Monster`, which we stored in the variable `fluffy`. We then called the `move_around` method on fluffy to get the printout.

> Note how we didn’t call the method as `fluffy.move_around(self)`. While the `self` has to be there when defining the method, we never add it explicitly when we call the method (Python will add the correct `self` for us automatically behind the scenes).

Let’s create the sibling of Fluffy, Cuddly:

    > cuddly = Monster()
    > cuddly.move_around()
    Monster is moving!

We now have two dragons and they’ll hang around until with call `quit()` to exit this Python instance. We can have them move as many times as we want. But no matter how many dragons we create, they will all show the same printout since `key` is always fixed as “Monster”.

Let’s make the class a little more flexible:

    class Monster:

        def __init__(self, key):
            self.key = key

        def move_around(self):
            print(f"{self.key} is moving!")

The `__init__` is a special method that Python recognizes. If given, this handles extra arguments when you instantiate a new Monster. We have it add an argument `key` that we store on `self`.

Now, for Evennia to see this code change, we need to reload the server. You can either do it this way:

    > quit()
    Python Console is closing.
    > reload

Or you can use a separate terminal and restart from outside the game:

    $ evennia reload   (or restart)

Either way you’ll need to go into `py` again:

    > py
    > from typeclasses.monsters import Monster
    fluffy = Monster("Fluffy")
    fluffy.move_around()
    Fluffy is moving!

Now we passed `"Fluffy"` as an argument to the class. This went into `__init__` and set `self.key`, which we later used to print with the right name! Again, note that we didn’t include `self` when calling.

### 5.2.2. What’s so good about objects?

So far all we’ve seen a class do is to behave our first `hello_world` function but more complex. We could just have made a function:

         def monster_move_around(key):
            print(f"{key} is moving!")

The difference between the function and an instance of a class (the object), is that the object retains state. Once you called the function it forgets everything about what you called it with last time. The object, on the other hand, remembers changes:

    > fluffy.key = "Cuddly"
    > fluffy.move_around()
    Cuddly is moving!

The `fluffy` object’s `key` was changed to “Cuddly” for as long as it’s around. This makes objects extremely useful for representing and remembering collections of data - some of which can be other objects in turn:

- A player character with all its stats

- A monster with HP

- A chest with a number of gold coins in it

- A room with other objects inside it

- The current policy positions of a political party

- A rule with methods for resolving challenges or roll dice

- A multi-dimenstional data-point for a complex economic simulation

- And so much more!

### 5.2.3. Classes can have children

Classes can inherit from each other. A “child” class will inherit everything from its “parent” class. But if the child adds something with the same name as its parent, it will override whatever it got from its parent.

Let’s expand `mygame/typeclasses/monsters.py` with another class:

    class Monster:
        """
        This is a base class for Monster.
        """

        def __init__(self, key):
            self.key = key

        def move_around(self):
            print(f"{self.key} is moving!")

    class Dragon(Monster):
        """
        This is a dragon-specific monster.
        """

        def move_around(self):
            print(f"{self.key} flies through the air high above!")

        def firebreath(self):
            """
            Let our dragon breathe fire.
            """
            print(f"{self.key} breathes fire!")

We added some docstrings for clarity. It’s always a good idea to add doc strings; you can do so also for methods, as exemplified for the new `firebreath` method.

We created the new class `Dragon` but we also specified that `Monster` is the parent of `Dragon` but adding the parent in parenthesis. `class Classname(Parent)` is the way to do this.

Let’s try out our new class. First `reload` the server and the do

    > py
    > from typeclasses.monsters import Dragon
    > smaug = Dragon("Smaug")
    > smaug.move_around()
    Smaug flies through the air high above!
    > smaug.firebreath()
    Smaug breathes fire!

Because we didn’t implement `__init__` in `Dragon`, we got the one from `Monster` instead. But since we implemented our own `move_around` in `Dragon`, it overrides the one in `Monster`. And `firebreath` is only available for `Dragon`s of course. Having that on `Monster` would not have made much sense, since not every monster can breathe fire.

One can also force a class to use resources from the parent even if you are overriding some of it. This is done with the `super()` method. Modify your `Dragon` class as follows:

    # ...

    class Dragon(Monster):

        def move_around(self):
            super().move_around()
            print("The world trembles.")

        # ...

> Keep `Monster` and the `firebreath` method, `# ...` indicates the rest of the code is untouched.

The `super().move_around()` line means that we are calling `move_around()` on the parent of the class. So in this case, we will call `Monster.move_around` first, before doing our own thing.

Now `reload` the server and then:

    > py
    > from typeclasses.monsters import Dragon
    > smaug = Dragon("Smaug")
    > smaug.move_around()
    Smaug is moving!
    The world trembles.

We can see that `Monster.move_around()` is calls first and prints “Smaug is moving!”, followed by the extra bit about the trembling world we added in the `Dragon` class.

Inheritance is very powerful because it allows you to organize and re-use code while only adding the special things you want to change. Evennia uses this concept a lot.

## 5.3. Summary

We have created our first dragons from classes. We have learned a little about how you instantiate a class into an object. We have seen some examples of inheritance and we tested to override a method in the parent with one in the child class. We also used `super()` to good effect.

We have used pretty much raw Python so far. In the coming lessons we’ll start to look at the extra bits that Evennia provides. But first we need to learn just where to find everything.