Question

What is the purpose of the "self" keyword when defining or calling instance methods?

Answer 1

The 'self' keyword in Python is used to reference the current instance of the class, and is always the first argument in an instance method's definition. It is not passed explicitly when calling the method.

Step-by-step explanation:

The self keyword in Python is used as a reference to the current instance of the class, and is used to access variables that belongs to the class. It does not have a special meaning in Python, it's just a convention. When defining an instance method, self is always the first argument. However, it is not passed explicitly when calling the method. Instead, Python automatically takes the instance on which the method is called as the first argument. For example, instance.method(arg1, arg2) is internally understood as class.method(instance, arg1, arg2).