Non-member vs member functions in Python

Question

I\'m relatively new to Python and struggling to reconcile features of the language with habits I\'ve picked up from my background in C++ and Java.

The latest issue I\

Answer 1

As scale relies on member-wise multiplication of a vector, I would consider implementing multiplication as a method and defining scale to be more general:

class Vector(object):
    def __init__(self, dX, dY):
        self._dX = dX
        self._dY = dY

    def __str__(self):
        return "->(" + str(self._dX) + ", " + str(self._dY) + ")"

    def __imul__(self, other):
        if other is Vector:
            self._dX *= other._dX
            self._dY *= other._dY
        else:
            self._dX *= other
            self._dY *= other

        return self

def scale(vector, scalar):
    vector *= scalar

Thus, the class interface is rich and streamlined while encapsulation is maintained.