What is this in programming

In object-oriented programming, the concept of this in an instance method is a reference to the instance itself that owns the method.

This mechanism allows methods to access and modify the attributes of the instance, as well as invoke other methods defined in the same.

Depending on the programming language, a specific keyword (this, self, me, among others) is used to refer to this internal reference.

However, although they are implemented differently in various programming languages, they basically serve the same purpose.

On the other hand, by its very nature, this can only be used in instance methods. In static methods, there is no instance, so it doesn’t make sense to use this.

Practical Case

Let’s look at an example of using this. In languages that incorporate the concept, it allows referring to the current object within its instance methods.

Suppose the following example with our Person class. In this case, we have an instance variable called name. But at the same time, in a method (in this case, in the constructor), we are receiving a variable name.

class Persona
{
    string nombre;

    Persona(string nombre)
    {
        this.nombre = nombre; // 'this' refers to the 'name' field of the class
    }

    void MostrarNombre()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Nombre: " + this.nombre);
    }
}

In this case, putting this allows us to disambiguate between the class members and the method parameters that have the same name.

In this example, this.nombre refers to the name field of the Person class, while name by itself refers to the constructor parameter.

Could it be better not to use the same name? Well, yes, I won’t deny that 🤷‍♀️. But it’s just a simple example to illustrate the use of this.

Return this

In the context of a method, this is a reference to an object. Something special, but a reference. So it is possible to return this. In fact, it’s not something rare.

class Persona
{
    string Nombre;

    Persona()
    {
        // ... we don't care in this example
    }

    Persona DoSomething()
    {
        return this;  // can return itself
    }
}

Moreover, this enables the creation of certain mechanisms, such as the method chaining pattern or the builder pattern. We will see them in due time.

Examples in Different Languages

Finally, let’s see an example of how self-references work in different programming languages,

public class Persona
{
    private string nombre;

    public Persona(string nombre)
    {
        this.nombre = nombre;
    }

    public void Saludar()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Hola, mi nombre es " + this.nombre);
    }
}

// Usage
Persona persona = new Persona("Luis");
persona.Saludar();  // Output: Hola, mi nombre es Luis

#include <iostream>
#include <string>

class Persona {
private:
    std::string nombre;

public:
    Persona(const std::string& nombre) : nombre(nombre) {}

    void saludar() const {
        std::cout << "Hola, mi nombre es " << this->nombre << std::endl;
    }
};

// Usage
int main() {
    Persona persona("Luis");
    persona.saludar();  // Output: Hola, mi nombre es Luis
    return 0;
}

class Persona {
    private nombre: string;

    constructor(nombre: string) {
        this.nombre = nombre;
    }

    saludar(): void {
        console.log("Hola, mi nombre es " + this.nombre);
    }
}

// Usage
const persona = new Persona("Luis");
persona.saludar();  // Output: Hola, mi nombre es Luis

class Persona {
    constructor(nombre) {
        this.nombre = nombre;
    }

    saludar() {
        console.log("Hola, mi nombre es " + this.nombre);
    }
}

// Usage
const persona = new Persona("Luis");
persona.saludar();  // Output: Hola, mi nombre es Luis

class Persona:
    def __init__(self, nombre):
        self.nombre = nombre

    def saludar(self):
        print(f"Hola, mi nombre es {self.nombre}")

# Usage
persona = Persona("Luis")
persona.saludar()  # Output: Hola, mi nombre es Luis