Python Classes and Inheritance

4 Modules

20 Hours

5 hrs per module (approx.)

Rating

About Python Classes and Inheritance

This course introduces classes, instances, and inheritance. You will learn how to use classes to represent data in concise and natural ways. You'll also learn how to override built-in methods and how to create "inherited" classes that reuse functionality. You'll also learn about how to design classes. Finally, you will be introduced to the good programming habit of writing automated tests for their own code.

The course is best-suited for you if you are already familiar with Python fundamentals, which are covered in the "Python Basics" and "Python Functions, Files, and Dictionaries" courses (courses 1 and 2 of the Python 3 Programming Specialization). It is optional to have taken the "Data Collection and Processing with Python" course (course 3 of the specialization), but knowledge of retrieving and processing complex nested data is helpful.

This is the fourth of five courses in the Python 3 Programming Specialization.

Skills You'll Gain

What You'll Earn

Certificate of Completion:: Certificates of completion acknowledge knowledge acquired upon completion of a non-credit course or program.

Experience Type: 100% Online
Format: Self-Paced
Series: Python 3 Programming
Subject: Data Science

Technology
Platform: Coursera

Welcome Message

Welcome to Python Classes and Inheritance, a course focused on object-oriented programming in Python. Learners explore classes, instances, inheritance, decorators, exceptions, and testing while developing well-structured, reusable code.
This abbreviated syllabus description was created with the help of AI tools and reviewed by staff. The full syllabus is available to those who enroll in the course.

Course Schedule

Module 1: Classes

Video: Introduction to the Specialization
Video: Welcome to Python Classes and Inheritance
Reading: Syllabus
Video: How to Use the Interactive Textbook
Reading: Help Us Learn More About You!
Reading: Syllabus
App Item: Single Sign On: Interactive Textbook and Practice Opportunities
Reading: Introduction: Classes and Objects - The Basics
Reading: Objects Revisited
Video: User-Defined Classes
Reading: User Defined Classes
Video: Adding Parameters to the Constructor
Reading: Adding Parameters to the Constructor
Video: Adding Other Methods to a Class
Reading: Adding Other Methods to a Class
Video: Instance Variable Search Order
Video: Example: Creating Instances from Data
Reading: Objects as Arguments and Parameters
Video: Converting an Object to a String
Reading: Converting an Object to a String
Video: Special (dunderscore) Methods
Video: Instances as Return Values
Reading: Instances as Return Values
Video: Sorting Lists of Instances
Reading: Sorting Lists of Instances
Video: Class Variables and Instance Variables
Reading: Class Variables and Instance Variables
Video: Thinking About Classes and Instances
Reading: Thinking About Classes and Instances
Reading: A Tamagotchi Game
Graded Assignment: Optional - What Did You Use to Practice This Week?
Graded: Assessment: Week One

Module 2: Inheritance

App Item: Single Sign On: Interactive Textbook and Practice Opportunities
Reading: Introduction: Class Inheritance
Video: Inheriting Variables and Methods
Reading: Inheriting Variables and Methods
Video: Overriding Methods
Reading: Overriding Methods
Video: Invoking the Parent Class's Method
Reading: Invoking the Parent Class's Method
Reading: Tamagotchi Revisited
Graded Assignment: Optional - What Did You Use to Practice This Week?
Graded: Assessment: Week Two

Module 3: Unit Testing and Exceptions

App Item: Single Sign On: Interactive Textbook and Practice Opportunities
Video: Introduction: Test Cases
Video: The test.testEqual Function
Reading: The test.testEqual Function
Video: Return Value Tests
Video: Side Effect Tests
Reading: Writing Test Cases for Functions
Video: Program Development with Test Cases
Reading: Program Development
Video: Testing Classes
Reading: Testing Classes
Video: Conclusion: Test Cases
Reading: What is an Exception?
Video: Exception Handling Flow-of-control
Reading: Exception Handling Flow-of-control
Reading: Raising and Catching Errors
Video: When to use Try/Except
Reading: When to use Try/Except
Video: Handling Different Exception Types
Reading: Standard Exceptions
Video: Introduction to Django
Video: How Django Uses Classes and Inheritance
Video: Introduction - Final Course Project
Reading: Course Feedback
Reading: Keep Learning with Michigan Online
Graded: Assessment: Test Cases
Graded: Assessment: Exceptions
Graded: Project: Wheel of Fortune

Grading Policy

Learners must complete all graded assessments. There are five graded assessments, each worth 20% of your final grade.

Steve Oney

Assistant Professor

Paul Resnick

Michael D. Cohen Collegiate Professor of Information

Course content developed by U-M faculty and managed by the university. Faculty titles and affiliations are updated periodically.

Intermediate Level

Some related experience required

Individuals

This experience is available to individual learners on the following platforms:

U-M Community

Students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the University of Michigan get free access.

Organizations

Special pricing and tailored programming bundles available for organizational partners.

4.7

2903 Ratings from Coursera

Most Recent Reviews

Read all reviews

February 17, 2026

The interactive learning with Runestone environment and jupyter notegook is very effective and very useful.

November 29, 2025

Lovely course, and great instructors. I recommend it for all.

October 10, 2025

I learnt a lot but modules 3 and 4 felt rushed. A lot of content but not enough practice questions. i don't feel like i will retain as much knowledge as the previous two courses. but overall really good course. enjoyed a lot

July 25, 2025

I have taken other Python courses that teach classes, however I still learned stuff in this course that I did not know before. I found I was generally confused about how "self" works in terms of methods inside of a class, & I feel like after taking this course I finally understand. While I don't understand decorators & wrapper functions that well this was my first time learning it, so I suspect that after I take other courses that go over those I'll similarly grow to understand that. My knowledge of class inheritance, super/parent class & sub/child classes has increased quite a bit after taking this course. While I don't fully understand them this was the first course I've taken that has actually gone over *args & **kwargs. So when I run into those in the future I can come back to videos/write ups in this course to solidify my understanding further. I have only dabbled in Visual Studio & the Way of the Programmer portion in Module 4 that went over using break points that certain IDEs have is definitely something I will take advantage of in the future. I would recommend this course for anyone that has surface level knowledge of classes/inheritance & wants to gain a deeper understanding of those. Or if you just have some Python knowledge & want to learn about classes, this is a good course to take to learn that.

December 09, 2024

A lot of useless content.

July 29, 2024

PUTANGINA NYO

July 05, 2024

everything is easy, but the final project is too hard, Not because of my skill We must follow how question makers think to build up the whole project. If we can build it from nothing, it would be much easier. I mean... there are thousands of ways to build a program, and everyone has a different way of getting the same result.. but this course just let you go one way

June 23, 2024

Great material but very unclear instructions for the last Assesment. Some of the code was prewritten and some of the code you had to write yourself. It was not clear what logic is already there and what not. I think it would be much better if you would write the whole thing from scratch by yourself

July 05, 2023

a lot could be improved. The readings are repeating themselves and the unit testing section wasn't enough

November 27, 2021

This is a great class but the Runestone practice website is down way too often (several hours for several times a week as well as many nights and most week-ends). Those are the times when I can practice. Please get serious and keep your servers running. PS: this is not a login issue. I authenticate from Coursera all the time.

Python Classes and Inheritance