7.2 Classes, methods, and variables
A class is a Python object that creates other objects, known as
instances of the class. We also say that a
class instantiates new objects of its type. Its
creation syntax is similar to that of a function definition, except we use class instead of def. A class can be
“parameterized,” and we discuss this in section 7.13 when we
consider inheritance.
We begin by defining a class, UniPoly, that creates a
univariate monomial from a coefficient, indeterminate, and exponent. We implement a preliminary
way to display these polynomials, but we do not yet allow any algebraic operations. The code for the final
version of UniPoly that we develop in this chapter is in
Appendix C.
class UniPoly:
# UniPoly creates univariate polynomials with integer coefficients
# Version 1
def __init__(self, coefficient, indeterminate, exponent):
# Create a...