Python Instance Methods

Instance methods are functions defined in a class that can refer to values stored in instance variables, as well as having access to class variables.

class MyClass:

    # The class constructor
    def __init__(self):
        self.variable = 42

    def myMethod(self):
        return self.variable

object = MyClass()
object.myMethod()       # myMethod will have "object" passed to it as the "self" variable

Here we define a class that has an instance variable myMethod. All instance methods have self automatically passed in as the first parameter, meaning that method has access to the object that called it.