How to have a helper function in a class ,without getting a warning of (self expected as the first parameter )

Question

I want define a helper function thats inside a class that’s private so that the user does not have to deal with it or access

The function does some algebraic multiplication it gives a warning since it expects the first element to be a class object anything to do other than ignore the warning

Answer 1

specify what programming language.

since you're saying it expects self, I'm guessing it's Python.

maybe you need a @staticmethod decorator.

class Foo:
@staticmethod
def __bar():
print('private static method')

def baz(self):
print('calling __bar from baz')
# using __bar() inside Foo class
Foo.__bar()

f1 = Foo()
f1.baz()

#Foo.__bar() #nope, it's private
#f1.__bar() #nope, it's private

# but it's Python, so you can always hack it...
#Foo._Foo__bar()
# or
#f1._Foo__bar()

Answer 2

Dareen Moughrabi
Python doesn't have any real access specifiers built in, so if your source code is accessible, it is easy to hack. You could try compiling it to an exe.

But yes, dunder methods are only fake private methods that mangles the variable name . But it is often good enough when developing your code. It's not really an issue unless you're deliberately hacking your own code and messing everything up in the process 😅

Answer 3

Bob_Li
Yeah it is python i will try in a bit
Yeah regarding private i read that we can always access a private function if we know the name of the class
Is there any reason for such feature
,
It feels like it is just a way to tell other programs do not change but other than that it makes making a game or an app using python easy to hack by users
So feels more damaging than not

Answer 4

Bob_Li thank you really useful information 🙏