Google App Engine Python Code: User Service

Question

What does this example program from the Google App Engine documentation mean when it references self? Where can i look up what methods (such as self.response...)?

from google.appengine.api import users
from google.appengine.ext import webapp
from google.appengine.ext.webapp.util import run_wsgi_app

class MainPage(webapp.RequestHandler):
  def get(self):
    user = users.get_current_user()

    if user:
      self.response.headers['Content-Type'] = 'text/plain'
      self.response.out.write('Hello, ' + user.nickname())
    else:
      self.redirect(users.create_login_url(self.request.uri))

application = webapp.WSGIApplication(
                                     [('/', MainPage)],
                                     debug=True)

def main():
  run_wsgi_app(application)

if __name__ == "__main__":
  main()

Answer 1

self refers to the webapp.RequestHandler class. Here is its documentation: http://code.google.com/appengine/docs/python/tools/webapp/requesthandlerclass.html, which tells you what response means.

Answer 2

self is a python convention which means 'this' in other languages like Java, C#, C++, etc...I've found it bizarre that you need to explicitly reference yourself when talking about objects (I have a Java background), but you sort of get used to it.

If you're going to use python, I suggest you get an editor that does code completion and understands python syntax, it'll make your life easier when trying to determine what functions are available for a given class or module