Python

9 Advanced Magic Methods in Python To Customize Classes Conveniently

Go beyond basic object-oriented programming

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Why does writing Python code feel so smooth and comfortable?

The secret lies in its wealth of excellent built-in methods and modules, which save us time and effort from reinventing the wheel.

Among these are magic methods, also known as special methods or dunder methods, whose name starts and ends with a double underscore. They offer powerful, convenient ways to customize Python classes, enhance functionality, and simplify our coding experience.

Some of them are very common and easy to understand. For example, the following code shows how to use the __len__ method to define how the length of a class should be calculated:

class Author:
    def __init__(self, name):
        self.name = name

    def __len__(self):
        return len(self.name)


me = Author('Yang Zhou')
print(len(me))
# 9

However, a few advanced magic methods are not intuitive enough at first glance, but more powerful than expected if we can leverage them properly.

This article will delve into the 9 most useful ones of them. They are ingeniously designed to provide advanced functionalities for customizing…