Variables inside and outside of a class __init__() function

Question

I'm trying to understand, is there any difference at all between these classes besides the name? Does it make any difference if I use or don't use the __init__() function in declaring the variable "value"?

class WithClass ():
    def __init__(self):
        self.value = "Bob"
    def my_func(self):
        print(self.value)

class WithoutClass ():
    value = "Bob"

    def my_func(self):
        print(self.value)

My main worry is that I'll be using it one way when that'll cause me problems further down the road (currently I use the init call).

Answer 1

Variable set outside __init__ belong to the class. They're shared by all instances.

Variables created inside __init__ (and all other method functions) and prefaced with self. belong to the object instance.