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Python supports most object oriented programming (OOP) techniques. It allows polymorphism, not only within a class hierarchy but also by duck typing. Any object can be used for any type, and it will work so long as it has the proper methods and attributes. And everything in Python is an object, including classes, functions, numbers and modules.
As a collection algorithm, reference counting tracks, for each object, a count of the number of references to it held by other objects. If an object's reference count reaches zero, the object has become inaccessible, and can be destroyed. When an object is destroyed, any objects referenced by that object also have their reference counts decreased.
Python's is operator may be used to compare object identities (comparison by reference), and comparisons may be chained—for example, a <= b <= c. Python uses and, or, and not as Boolean operators. Python has a type of expression named a list comprehension, and a more general expression named a generator expression. [78]
Duck typing is similar to, but distinct from, structural typing.Structural typing is a static typing system that determines type compatibility and equivalence by a type's structure, whereas duck typing is dynamic and determines type compatibility by only that part of a type's structure that is accessed during runtime.
The following are notable software design patterns for OOP objects. [57] Function object: with a single method (in C++, the function operator, operator()) it acts much like a function; Immutable object: does not change state after creation; First-class object: can be used without restriction; Container object: contains other objects
In computer programming, the return type (or result type) defines and constrains the data type of the value returned from a subroutine or method. [1] In many programming languages (especially statically-typed programming languages such as C, C++, Java) the return type must be explicitly specified when declaring a function.
Method overriding, in object-oriented programming, is a language feature that allows a subclass or child class to provide a specific implementation of a method that is already provided by one of its superclasses or parent classes.
Encapsulation is also possible in non-object-oriented languages. In C, for example, a structure can be declared in the public API via the header file for a set of functions that operate on an item of data containing data members that are not accessible to clients of the API with the extern keyword. [13]