Protected attributes in Python - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Understanding Protected Attributes in Python Classes

📖 Scenario: Imagine you are creating a simple program to manage a library's book information. You want to keep some details safe from being changed directly by mistake, but still allow access when needed.

🎯 Goal: You will create a Python class with a protected attribute to store the book's title. Then, you will add a helper variable, write a method to access the protected attribute, and finally print the book title.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a class called Book with a protected attribute _title

Add a variable book that creates an instance of Book with the title 'Python Basics'

Write a method get_title inside the Book class to return the protected _title

Print the book title by calling the get_title method on the book instance

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Protected attributes help keep important data safe inside objects, like protecting a book's title from accidental changes.

💼 Career

Understanding protected attributes is useful for writing clean, safe code in software development jobs, especially when working with classes and objects.

1

Create the Book class with a protected attribute

Create a class called Book with an __init__ method that takes a parameter title and assigns it to a protected attribute called _title.

Python

class Book:
    def __init__(self, title):
        # Your code here

Need a hint?

Use self._title = title inside the __init__ method to create the protected attribute.

2

Create an instance of the Book class

Create a variable called book and set it to an instance of the Book class with the title 'Python Basics'.

Python

class Book:
    def __init__(self, title):
        self._title = title

# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use book = Book('Python Basics') to create the instance.

3

Add a method to access the protected attribute

Inside the Book class, add a method called get_title that returns the protected attribute _title.

Python

class Book:
    def __init__(self, title):
        self._title = title

    # Your code here

book = Book('Python Basics')

Need a hint?

Define get_title with def get_title(self): and return self._title.

4

Print the book title using the method

Write a print statement to display the book title by calling the get_title method on the book instance.

Python

class Book:
    def __init__(self, title):
        self._title = title

    def get_title(self):
        return self._title

book = Book('Python Basics')

# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use print(book.get_title()) to show the title.