calling a function from class in python - different way

class MathsOperations:
    def __init__ (self, x, y):
        self.a = x
        self.b = y
    def testAddition (self):
        return (self.a + self.b)

    def testMultiplication (self):
        return (self.a * self.b)

then

temp = MathsOperations()
print(temp.testAddition())

you have to use self as the first parameters of a method

in the second case you should use

class MathOperations:
    def testAddition (self,x, y):
        return x + y

    def testMultiplication (self,a, b):
        return a * b

and in your code you could do the following

tmp = MathOperations()
print tmp.testAddition(2,3)

if you use the class without instantiating a variable first

print MathOperation.testAddtion(2,3)

it gives you an error "TypeError: unbound method"

if you want to do that you will need the @staticmethod decorator

For example:

class MathsOperations:
    @staticmethod
    def testAddition (x, y):
        return x + y

    @staticmethod
    def testMultiplication (a, b):
        return a * b

then in your code you could use

print MathsOperations.testAddition(2,3)

disclaimer: this is not a just to the point answer, it's more like a piece of advice, even if the answer can be found on the references

IMHO: object oriented programming in Python sucks quite a lot.

The method dispatching is not very straightforward, you need to know about bound/unbound instance/class (and static!) methods; you can have multiple inheritance and need to deal with legacy and new style classes (yours was old style) and know how the MRO works, properties...

In brief: too complex, with lots of things happening under the hood. Let me even say, it is unpythonic, as there are many different ways to achieve the same things.

My advice: use OOP only when it's really useful. Usually this means writing classes that implement well known protocols and integrate seamlessly with the rest of the system. Do not create lots of classes just for the sake of writing object oriented code.

Take a good read to this pages:

• http://docs.python.org/reference/datamodel.html
• http://docs.python.org/tutorial/classes.html

you'll find them quite useful.

If you really want to learn OOP, I'd suggest starting with a more conventional language, like Java. It's not half as fun as Python, but it's more predictable.