Do you use the get/set pattern (in Python)?

Using get/set seems to be a common practice in Java (for various reasons), but I hardly see Python code that uses this.

Why do you use or avoid get/set methods in Python?

In python, you can just access the attribute directly because it is public:

class MyClass:

    def __init__(self):
        self.my_attribute = 0  

my_object = MyClass()
my_object.my_attribute = 1 # etc.

If you want to do something on access or mutation of the attribute, you can use properties:

class MyClass:

    def __init__(self):
        self._my_attribute = 0

    @property
    def my_attribute(self):
        # Do something if you want
        return self._my_attribute

    @my_attribute.setter
    def my_attribute(self, value):
        # Do something if you want
        self._my_attribute = value

Crucially, the client code remains the same.

Cool link: Python is not Java :)

In Java, you have to use getters and setters because using public fields gives you no opportunity to go back and change your mind later to using getters and setters. So in Java, you might as well get the chore out of the way up front. In Python, this is silly, because you can start with a normal attribute and change your mind at any time, without affecting any clients of the class. So, don't write getters and setters.

Here is what Guido van Rossum says about that in Masterminds of Programming

What do you mean by "fighting the language"?

Guido: That usually means that they're trying to continue their habits that worked well with a different language.

[...] People will turn everything into a class, and turn every access into an accessor method,
where that is really not a wise thing to do in Python; you'll have more verbose code that is
harder to debug and runs a lot slower. You know the expression "You can write FORTRAN in any language?" You can write Java in any language, too.

No, it's unpythonic. The generally accepted way is to use normal data attribute and replace the ones that need more complex get/set logic with properties.

Do you use the get/set pattern (in Python)?

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