What are the best practices for encapsulation in Python?

What are the best practices for encapsulation in Python?

Encapsulation in Python involves restricting access to certain components of an object. Best practices include using private and protected attributes, and providing public methods for accessing and modifying these attributes.

Can you explain the difference between private and protected attributes?

Sure! Private attributes are prefixed with double underscores (e.g., __attribute), making them inaccessible from outside the class. Protected attributes are prefixed with a single underscore (e.g., _attribute), indicating they should not be accessed directly outside the class, but they can be accessed in subclasses.

How do I implement encapsulation in a class?

You can implement encapsulation by defining your class with private or protected attributes and then creating public methods to interact with those attributes. For example:

class MyClass:
    def __init__(self):
        self.__private_attr = 42
        self._protected_attr = 24

    def get_private_attr(self):
        return self.__private_attr

    def set_private_attr(self, value):
        self.__private_attr = value