no-self-argument.md

Pattern: self not as first method argument

Issue: -

Description

Used when the first argument of a (instance) method has a name other than self.

This is nothing more than a convention: the name self has no special meaning to Python. Note, however, that by not following the convention your code may be less readable to other Python programmers, and it is also conceivable that a class browser program might be written that relies upon such a convention.

Example of incorrect code:

class Felinae(object):
    def __init__(subfamily):
        self.subfamily = subfamily

Example of correct code:

class Felinae(object):
    def __init__(self, subfamily):
        self.subfamily = subfamily

Further Reading

• PEP 8 - Function and method arguments
• The Python Tutorial - Random Remarks