What is the purpose of the super() function in Python?

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Answer:

The super() function in Python is used to call a method in a parent class from a subclass that has overridden that method.

The purpose of super() is to allow a subclass to invoke a method from its superclass, without having to explicitly name the superclass. This allows for more flexible and maintainable code, because the subclass can change its inheritance without affecting the code that calls the method using super().

The super() function takes two arguments: the first is the subclass itself, and the second is the instance of the subclass.

For example, consider the following code:

class Animal:
    def speak(self):
        print("An animal speaks")

class Dog(Animal):
    def speak(self):
        super().speak()
        print("A dog barks")

In this example, Dog is a subclass of Animal. The speak() method is overridden in Dog to add a bark to the Animal's speak behavior. However, instead of calling Animal.speak() directly, Dog uses super().speak() to invoke the speak() method of its superclass, Animal, before adding its own behavior.

This allows for more modular and extensible code, as other subclasses of Animal can inherit the same behavior and add their own modifications without duplicating code.

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