自我是不可避免的。

问题是，self是隐式的还是显式的。 Guido van Rossum解决了这个问题说self必须留下来。

那么自我生活在哪里呢?

如果我们坚持函数式编程，我们就不需要self了。 一旦我们进入Python OOP，我们就会发现自己在那里。

下面是带有方法m1的典型用例类C

class C:
    def m1(self, arg):
        print(self, ' inside')
        pass

ci =C()
print(ci, ' outside')
ci.m1(None)
print(hex(id(ci))) # hex memory address

这个程序将输出:

<__main__.C object at 0x000002B9D79C6CC0>  outside
<__main__.C object at 0x000002B9D79C6CC0>  inside
0x2b9d79c6cc0

self保存类实例的内存地址。 self的目的是保存实例方法的引用，并使我们能够显式地访问该引用。

注意有三种不同类型的类方法:

静态方法(读作:函数)， 类方法, 实例方法(已提到)。

Self是对对象本身的引用，因此，它们是相同的。 Python方法不是在对象本身的上下文中调用的。 self在Python中可以用来处理自定义对象模型或其他东西。

The reason you need to use self. is because Python does not use special syntax to refer to instance attributes. Python decided to do methods in a way that makes the instance to which the method belongs be passed automatically, but not received automatically: the first parameter of methods is the instance the method is called on. That makes methods entirely the same as functions, and leaves the actual name to use up to you (although self is the convention, and people will generally frown at you when you use something else.) self is not special to the code, it's just another object.

Python could have done something else to distinguish normal names from attributes -- special syntax like Ruby has, or requiring declarations like C++ and Java do, or perhaps something yet more different -- but it didn't. Python's all for making things explicit, making it obvious what's what, and although it doesn't do it entirely everywhere, it does do it for instance attributes. That's why assigning to an instance attribute needs to know what instance to assign to, and that's why it needs self..

首先，self是一个传统的名字，你可以用其他任何东西(连贯)来代替它。

它引用对象本身，因此当您使用它时，您声明.name和.age是您将要创建的Student对象(注意，不是Student类)的属性。

class Student:
    #called each time you create a new Student instance
    def __init__(self,name,age): #special method to initialize
        self.name=name
        self.age=age

    def __str__(self): #special method called for example when you use print
        return "Student %s is %s years old" %(self.name,self.age)

    def call(self, msg): #silly example for custom method
        return ("Hey, %s! "+msg) %self.name

#initializing two instances of the student class
bob=Student("Bob",20)
alice=Student("Alice",19)

#using them
print bob.name
print bob.age
print alice #this one only works if you define the __str__ method
print alice.call("Come here!") #notice you don't put a value for self

#you can modify attributes, like when alice ages
alice.age=20
print alice

代码在这里

它的使用类似于Java中this关键字的使用，即给出对当前对象的引用。

我将用不使用类的代码演示:

def state_init(state):
    state['field'] = 'init'

def state_add(state, x):
    state['field'] += x

def state_mult(state, x):
    state['field'] *= x

def state_getField(state):
    return state['field']

myself = {}
state_init(myself)
state_add(myself, 'added')
state_mult(myself, 2)

print( state_getField(myself) )
#--> 'initaddedinitadded'

类只是一种避免始终传递这种“状态”的方法(以及其他一些不错的事情，如初始化、类组合、很少需要的元类，以及支持自定义方法来覆盖操作符)。

现在让我们使用内置的python类机制来演示上面的代码，以展示它们基本上是相同的东西。

class State(object):
    def __init__(self):
        self.field = 'init'
    def add(self, x):
        self.field += x
    def mult(self, x):
        self.field *= x

s = State()
s.add('added')    # self is implicitly passed in
s.mult(2)         # self is implicitly passed in
print( s.field )

[把我的答案从重复的封闭式问题中迁移过来]