Difference between class (Python) and struct (C)

Question

I'm new to python. I've studied C and I noticed that that the C structure (struct) seemed to have the same task as "class" in python. So what is, conceptually, the difference?

Answer 1

Structs encapsulate data.

Classes encapsulate behavior and data.

Answer 2

Aside from numerous technical differences between how they're implemented, they serve roughly the same purpose: the organization of data.

The big difference is that in Python (and other object oriented languages such as C++, Java, or C#), a class can also have functions associated with it that operate only on the instance of the class, whereas in C, a function that wishes to operate on a struct must accept the structure as a parameter in some way, usually by pointer.

I won't delve into the technical differences between the two, as they are fairly significant, but I suggest you look into the concept of Object Oriented Programming.