object - Python interpreter error, x takes no arguments (1 given)

64
votes

I'm writing a small piece of python as a homework assignment, and I'm not getting it to run! I don't have that much Python-experience, but I know quite a lot of Java. I'm trying to implement a Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm, and here's what I have: 

class Particle:    

    def __init__(self,domain,ID):
        self.ID = ID
        self.gbest = None
        self.velocity = []
        self.current = []
        self.pbest = []
        for x in range(len(domain)):
            self.current.append(random.randint(domain[x][0],domain[x][1])) 
            self.velocity.append(random.randint(domain[x][0],domain[x][1])) 
            self.pbestx = self.current          

    def updateVelocity():
    for x in range(0,len(self.velocity)):
        self.velocity[x] = 2*random.random()*(self.pbestx[x]-self.current[x]) + 2 * random.random()*(self.gbest[x]-self.current[x]) 


    def updatePosition():    
        for x in range(0,len(self.current)):
            self.current[x] = self.current[x] + self.velocity[x]    

    def updatePbest():
        if costf(self.current) < costf(self.best):
            self.best = self.current        

    def psoOptimize(domain,costf,noOfParticles=20, noOfRuns=30):
        particles = []
        for i in range(noOfParticles):    
            particle = Particle(domain,i)    
            particles.append(particle)    

        for i in range(noOfRuns):
            Globalgbest = []
            cost = 9999999999999999999
        for i in particles:    
        if costf(i.pbest) < cost:
                cost = costf(i.pbest)
            Globalgbest = i.pbest
            for particle in particles:
                particle.updateVelocity()
                particle.updatePosition()
                particle.updatePbest(costf)
                particle.gbest = Globalgbest    


        return determineGbest(particles,costf)

Now, I see no reason why this shouldn't work. However, when I run it, I get this error:

"TypeError: updateVelocity() takes no arguments (1 given)"

I don't understand! I'm not giving it any arguments!

Thanks for the help,

Linus

4
pythonobjectmethodsarguments
There's no blank lines in my source, that's just the way this site formats it. - Linus
Low quality question: many unrelated code with many syntax errors due to mixed spaces and tabs. Duplicate of better question stackoverflow.com/q/6614123/448474 - hynekcer
It's a very plausible question! The error procuced is very common for someone who is new to Python. And it is a very perplexing problem! You can easily see that the programmer calls 'particle.updateVelocity()' w/o any argument, which is iideed how it should be called. It is solvable, but not using standard documentation! - Apostolos
Python is not naturally compiled, but interpreted. CPython is an interpreter, not a compiler. - user4396006
@J. C. Rocamonde: No, CPython is a compiler and a bytecode interpreter. - Fred Larson

4 Answers

129
votes

Python implicitly passes the object to method calls, but you need to explicitly declare the parameter for it. This is customarily named self:

def updateVelocity(self):
8
votes

Make sure, that all of your class methods (updateVelocity, updatePosition, ...) take at least one positional argument, which is canonically named self and refers to the current instance of the class.

When you call particle.updateVelocity(), the called method implicitly gets an argument: the instance, here particle as first parameter.

6
votes

Your updateVelocity() method is missing the explicit self parameter in its definition.

Should be something like this:

def updateVelocity(self):    
    for x in range(0,len(self.velocity)):
        self.velocity[x] = 2*random.random()*(self.pbestx[x]-self.current[x]) + 2 \
          * random.random()*(self.gbest[x]-self.current[x])

Your other methods (except for __init__) have the same problem.

-1
votes

I have been puzzled a lot with this problem, since I am relively new in Python. I cannot apply the solution to the code given by the questioned, since it's not self executable. So I bring a very simple code:

from turtle import *

ts = Screen(); tu = Turtle()

def move(x,y):
  print "move()"
  tu.goto(100,100)

ts.listen();
ts.onclick(move)

done()

As you can see, the solution consists in using two (dummy) arguments, even if they are not used either by the function itself or in calling it! It sounds crazy, but I believe there must be a reason for it (hidden from the novice!).

I have tried a lot of other ways ('self' included). It's the only one that works (for me, at least).