Sometimes the python documentation can give too many details such that its difficult to get answers to simple questions. One that I’ve just worked through is “[iterable objects][0].” For example, if you have an object called Family and you want to display a list of all the members of that family, you might use this code:

family = Family(‘Nuzums’)
for person in family:
print person['first_name']

Shouldn’t be hard, right? Its not, once you figure it out. You start out with your usual class definition, then you need to add the following methods:

* **`next(self)`**: returns the next item from the list
* **`__getitem__(self, item)`**: returns a specific item from the list
* **`__iter__(self)`**: returns `self` assuming you’ve added the above two methods

Here’s an example:

class Family:
def __init__(self, last_name):
if last_name == ‘Nuzums’:
self.members = (
{‘first_name’: ‘mommy’},
{‘first_name’: ‘daddy’},
{‘first_name’: ‘son’},
{‘first_name’: ‘daughter’},
)
self.count = 0
def next(self):
if self.count >= len(self.members):
self.count = 0
raise StopIteration
else:
c = self.count
self.count = c + 1
return self.members[c]
def __getitem__(self, item):
return self.members[item]
def __iter__(self):
return self

That should do it. Note there’s nothing magical about the use of the word ‘members’ above. As long as `next` and `__getitem__` know what to do, the magic is done. This example is extremely simple. If you have some enhancements to suggest, please post them as a comment.

[0]: http://docs.python.org/lib/typeiter.html