Methods

A method is just a function defined inside a class. __init__ is technically a method too — just a special one that runs on creation.

TypeScript:

class User {
  name: string;

  constructor(name: string) {
    this.name = name;
  }

  greet(): string {
    return `Hello ${this.name}`;
  }
}

const user = new User('John');
console.log(user.greet());

Python:

class User:
    def __init__(self, name):
        self.name = name

    def greet(self):
        return f"Hello {self.name}"

user = User("John")
print(user.greet())

self shows up again

Every method needs self as its first parameter, so it can read the object's instance variables (self.name here). This is the same self from the last page — Python just requires you to name it explicitly in every method's signature.

But you don't pass it yourself when calling the method — user.greet(), not user.greet(user). Python fills in self automatically with whatever object is before the dot; you only ever pass the remaining parameters.