Decorators unexpectedly change constructor behavior in Python - python-3.x

Question

Below, I show a simplified example of a more complicated code, but nonetheless, it fully represents the issue that I have encountered.
Part 1: this works fine, no issues:
class Animal():
def __init__(self, animal_name = "no name given"):
self.set_name(animal_name)
def get_name(self):
return self._animal_name
def set_name(self, animal_name):
self._animal_name = animal_name
class Dog(Animal):
def __init__(self, dog_breed = "no breed", dog_name = "no name given"):
self._dog_breed = dog_breed
super().__init__(dog_name)
def get_breed(self):
print(self._dog_breed)
x = Dog('Greyhound', 'Rich')
Part 2: after introducing getter & setter decorators, the code stops working:
class Animal():
def __init__(self, animal_name = "no name given"):
#THE LINE BELOW SEEMS TO CAUSE AN ISSUE
self.name(animal_name)
#property
def name(self):
return self._animal_name
#name.setter
def name(self, animal_name):
self._animal_name = animal_name
class Dog(Animal):
def __init__(self, dog_breed = "no breed", dog_name = "no name given"):
self._dog_breed = dog_breed
super().__init__(dog_name)
def get_breed(self):
print(self._dog_breed)
x = Dog('Greyhound', 'Rich')
Output: AttributeError: 'Dog' object has no attribute '_animal_name'
When I keep the decorators in Part 2 but change the constructor in the Animal class to:
class Animal():
def __init__(self, animal_name = "no name given"):
self._animal_name=animal_name
It works.
I am just curious why it doesn't work in the example above in Part 2?

Answer 1

Short answer:
The line
self.name(animal_name)
can be split in two parts:
tmp = self.name
tmp(animal_name)
First, self.name calls the getter and the result is treated as a function. The getter uses return self._animal_name and since the setter has never been called, the respective error occurs.
Long answer:
Let's take the following class:
class Animal:
def __init__(self, animal_name):
self.name(animal_name)
#property
def name(self):
return self._animal_name
#name.setter
def name(self, animal_name):
self._animal_name = animal_name
To understand what the line
self.name(animal_name)
actually does, you first need to understand decorators.
The code
#dec
def func(a, b, ...):
[...]
is equivalent to
def func_impl(a, b, ...):
[...]
func = dec(func_impl)
(except that you can not call func_impl directly). See, for example, PEP 318 for more information.
This means that you can write the Animal class from above without using decorators:
class Animal:
def __init__(self, animal_name):
self.name(animal_name)
def get_name(self):
return self._animal_name
name = property(get_name)
def set_name(self, animal_name):
self._animal_name = animal_name
name = name.setter(set_name)
In order to understand this code, you need to understand the builtin property, which is a class. See the python docs for detailed information.
The line name = property(get_name) creates an object of type property. When retrieving the value of the property, get_name is called.
The line name = name.setter(set_name) first calls name.setter(set_name), which creates a copy of the property, and then overwrites name with this copy. When assigning a value to the copy, set_name is called.
All in all, name is an object of type property that uses get_name as getter and set_name as setter.
How does this help?
You need to understand this: name is not a function. It is a property. It is not callable.
The problematic line
self.name(animal_name)
is actually equivalent to
self.get_name()(animal_name)
which this explains the error message: The constructor calls the getter, which tries to use return self._animal_name. But since the setter has not been called, yet, self._animal_name has not been set.