What is the purpose of the self parameter in a method?

In OOP, the 'self' parameter is a reference to the instance of an object within its class. It is used within methods to allow the instance to access its own attributes and call other methods. In Python, the 'self' parameter is passed as the first parameter of instance methods. Although the word 'self' is just a convention, it is widely used and considered good practice.

The 'self' parameter is important because it allows methods to access and modify the instance's attributes. It enables code reusability, as each instance of a class can call the same method without affecting the attributes of other objects. Additionally, it encapsulates the data and function within the same unit (the class definition) and thus aids with code organization.

Let's create a simple example to demonstrate the role of the 'self' parameter. We will define a `Person` class with a method called `introduce_yourself` that uses the 'self' parameter to access the instance's attributes and print a personalized introduction: ```python class Person: def __init__(self, name, age): self.name = name self.age = age def introduce_yourself(self): print("Hello, my name is", self.name, "and I am", self.age, "years old") person1 = Person("Alice", 25) person1.introduce_yourself() # Output: Hello, my name is Alice and I am 25 years old ``` In this example, we used the 'self' parameter in the `introduce_yourself()` method to access the `name` and `age` attributes of the `person1` instance. This allowed the method to print a customized introduction for the person.