Super function usage in Python - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Super function usage

📖 Scenario: You are creating a simple program with two classes: a parent class and a child class. The child class will use the super() function to call a method from the parent class. This is like asking your older sibling for help before doing your own work.

🎯 Goal: Build two classes where the child class uses super() to call the parent class method and then adds its own message.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a parent class called Animal with a method sound() that returns the string 'Animal makes a sound'.

Create a child class called Dog that inherits from Animal.

In the Dog class, override the sound() method and use super().sound() to get the parent message.

Add the string ' and Dog barks' to the message from the parent method in the child method.

Create an object of class Dog and print the result of calling its sound() method.

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Using <code>super()</code> is common when building programs with many related classes, like in games, apps, or websites where objects share common features.

💼 Career

Understanding <code>super()</code> helps you work with object-oriented programming, which is a key skill for many software development jobs.

1

Create the parent class

Create a class called Animal with a method sound() that returns the string 'Animal makes a sound'.

Python

# Create class Animal with method sound
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use class Animal: to start the class and define sound(self) method that returns the exact string.

2

Create the child class

Create a class called Dog that inherits from Animal. Inside it, define a method sound(self) that uses super().sound() to get the parent message and adds ' and Dog barks' to it.

Python

class Animal:
    def sound(self):
        return 'Animal makes a sound'

# Create class Dog inheriting Animal
# Override sound method using super()
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use class Dog(Animal): to inherit. Inside sound, call super().sound() and add the extra string.

3

Create a Dog object

Create an object called dog of class Dog.

Python

class Animal:
    def sound(self):
        return 'Animal makes a sound'

class Dog(Animal):
    def sound(self):
        return super().sound() + ' and Dog barks'

# Create an object dog of class Dog
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use dog = Dog() to create the object.

4

Print the Dog sound

Print the result of calling dog.sound().

Python

class Animal:
    def sound(self):
        return 'Animal makes a sound'

class Dog(Animal):
    def sound(self):
        return super().sound() + ' and Dog barks'

dog = Dog()

# Print the sound of dog
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use print(dog.sound()) to show the combined message.