Private attributes in Python - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Understanding Private Attributes in Python

📖 Scenario: Imagine you are creating a simple bank account system. You want to keep the account balance safe so that it cannot be changed directly from outside the account. This is where private attributes help.

🎯 Goal: You will create a class with a private attribute for the account balance. Then, you will add a method to safely check the balance.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a class called BankAccount

Add a private attribute called __balance with the value 1000

Add a method called get_balance that returns the value of __balance

Create an object called account from the BankAccount class

Print the balance using the get_balance method

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Private attributes help protect important data inside objects, like bank balances, so they cannot be changed accidentally or by mistake.

💼 Career

Understanding private attributes is important for writing safe and reliable code in many programming jobs, especially when working with classes and objects.

1

Create the BankAccount class with a private balance

Create a class called BankAccount with a private attribute __balance set to 1000 inside the __init__ method.

Python

class BankAccount:
    def __init__(self):
        # Your code here

Need a hint?

Use self.__balance = 1000 inside the __init__ method to create a private attribute.

2

Add a method to get the balance

Inside the BankAccount class, add a method called get_balance that returns the private attribute __balance.

Python

class BankAccount:
    def __init__(self):
        self.__balance = 1000

    # Your code here

Need a hint?

Define get_balance to return self.__balance.

3

Create an account object

Create an object called account from the BankAccount class.

Python

class BankAccount:
    def __init__(self):
        self.__balance = 1000

    def get_balance(self):
        return self.__balance

# Your code here

Need a hint?

Create the object by writing account = BankAccount().

4

Print the account balance

Use the print function to display the balance by calling account.get_balance().

Python

class BankAccount:
    def __init__(self):
        self.__balance = 1000

    def get_balance(self):
        return self.__balance

account = BankAccount()

# Your code here

Need a hint?

Print the balance by calling account.get_balance().