dataclass

The dataclass module is very useful. It enables a user to create a class without having to go through the standard lengthy process. In particular it creates the special methods __init__() and __repr__() for the user, which is very convenient especially when there is a need for many classes.

In addition to the __init__() and __repr__() methods, the dataclass also provides for other special methods. We can see the docs here: https://docs.python.org/3/library/dataclasses.html.

Here is a nice example of the usage:

from dataclasses import dataclass

@dataclass

class InsideBits:

    ''' these are the inner bits '''

    left_inner: int

    right_inner: int

@dataclass

class OutsideBits:

    ''' the outside bits reference the inside bits '''

    left_outer: InsideBits

    right_outer: InsideBits

p = InsideBits(1,2)

q = InsideBits(3,4)

x = OutsideBits(p, q)

print(x)

print(x.left_outer)

print(x.left_outer.left_inner)