Why does setting a class attribute after declaration return an error in python?

Question

I'm working on a dungeon styled game, and I made a file called places.py to store the places. I am using a class, then adding attributes to the class. I received an error, and here is the error message:

E0001:invalid syntax (, line 8)

Here would be my code for places.py:

class place(object):
 def __init__(self):
 self.name=''
 self.nearplaces=[]
 self.ground=[]
 self.monsters=[]
1 = place
1.name='Ruby City'
1.nearplaces=[2,3]
1.ground=[1]
1.monsters=[]

It is confusing how, after declaration, I receive an error when trying to change the attributes. This may be a very simple question, but I wish to know why it does not work, and how to make it work. Thank you.

• jsmolka: Variable names cannot begin with an integer. Apart from that you are not creating an instance, you assign the class.
• Aphrodite: They cannot? Why can't they? Can you please give me a link?
• ACascarino: They just... can't (@Phydeaux's answer below links the documentation stating that they can't.). This is intuitive if you consider how a parser actually works - consider the example print(3e2). Is that trying to print the number 30.0 or the variable 3e2?

Answer 1

Firstly you cannot use integer literals, like 1, as variable names. This is to avoid ambiguity, so the interpreter knows whether it is looking at a variable or a number (see rules for Python identifiers).

Secondly, to properly instantiate your class you need to use ().

Try:

level_1 = place()
level_1.name='Ruby City'
level_1.nearplaces=[2,3]
level_1.ground=[1]
level_1.monsters=[]