title: Passing self to class functions in Python
body: <p>What's the reason of passing a value for a self reference in class functions in python? For instance:</p>
  
  <pre><code>class MyClass:
      """A simple example class"""
      i = 12345
      def f(**self**):
          return 'hello world'
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>By doing this, aren't you doing the compiler's work?</p>