Creating a class property using a function

Question

I found this fantasy name generator here.

I am trying to adapt the code to suit my purpose. I want to create an NPC name automatically, using the function name_gen within the class NPC. With the NPC characteristics being:

class NPC:
  def __init__(self, name, age, gender):
    self.name = name_gen
    self.age = 25
    self.gender = M

The code from the name generator I need is the following:

from random import randrange

def line_appender(file_path, target):
    file = open(file_path, "r")
    splitfile = file.read().splitlines()
    for line in splitfile:
        target.append(line)

def name_selector(target_list):
    selected = target_list[randrange(len(target_list))]
    return selected

def name_builder(first_name_list_path, last_name_list_path):
    first_name_list = []
    last_name_list = []

    line_appender(first_name_list_path, first_name_list)
    line_appender(last_name_list_path, last_name_list)

    first_name_selected = name_selector(first_name_list)
    last_name_selected = name_selector(last_name_list)

    name = first_name_selected+" "+last_name_selected
    return name

Now the only thing I think I still need to do, is to generate the name from within the class NPC. I thought doing something like:

def name_gen
    if gender == "M":
    name = name_builder("first_name_male.txt", "last_name.txt")
    elif gender == "F":
    name = name_builder("first_name_female.txt", "last_name.txt")

But I don't understand how to make the name_gen function check the class NPC properties, so that it generates the desired name.

Could someone perhaps help me out?

EDIT

Thank you for all the solutions! I am pretty new to Python; In order to test Samwises solution, I tried to run it as a separate script (in order to check whether I would get a name) with the code below. It does however not print anything. I'm putting this in an EDIT because I think it might be a trivial question. If it is worth posting a separate question, please let me know:

import random

running = True

npc_input_messsage = "npc = NPC(25, 'M')"

class NameChooser:
    def __init__(self, file_path):
        with open(file_path) as f:
            self._names = f.read().splitlines()
    
    def choice(self):
        return random.choice(self._names)

first_choosers = {
    "M": NameChooser("first_name_male.txt"),
    "F": NameChooser("first_name_female.txt"),
}
last_chooser = NameChooser("last_name.txt")

def name_gen(gender):
    return f"{first_choosers[gender].choice()} {last_chooser.choice()}" 

class NPC:
    def __init__(self, age, gender):
        self.name = name_gen(gender)
        self.age = age
        self.gender = gender

while running:

    npc = input(npc_input_messsage)

# I'm entering npc = NPC(25, "M")

print(npc)

Answer 1

I think you're confused about OOP concepts.

First, let's edit your class:

class NPC:
  def __init__(self, name, age, gender):
    self.name = name
    self.age = age
    self.gender = gender

See, I have assigned parameter values to the attributes. Now let's make changes to your function:

def name_gen(gender):
    if gender == "M":
        name = name_builder("first_name_male.txt", "last_name.txt")
    elif gender == "F":
        name = name_builder("first_name_female.txt", "last_name.txt")
    return name

Here I have added a parameter to your function since you're using its value. Now let's create an instance for your class.

npc = NPC("Vishwas", 25, "M") # Instance of the class
print(name_gen(npc.gender)) # Print generated name

Answer 2

A straightforward way to make happen automatically would be to simply call the name generator from with the NPC.__init__() method. In the code below it's been made a private method of the class by starting its name with an underscore character. Note that the call to it has to wait until all the instance attributes it references have been assigned value.

from random import randrange


class NPC:
    def __init__(self, age, gender):
        self.age = age
        self.gender = gender
        self.name = self._name_gen()

    def _name_gen(self):
        if self.gender == "M":
            name = name_builder("first_name_male.txt", "last_name.txt")
        elif self.gender == "F":
            name = name_builder("first_name_female.txt", "last_name.txt")
        return name


def line_appender(file_path, target):
    file = open(file_path, "r")
    splitfile = file.read().splitlines()
    for line in splitfile:
        target.append(line)

def name_selector(target_list):
    selected = target_list[randrange(len(target_list))]
    return selected

def name_builder(first_name_list_path, last_name_list_path):
    first_name_list = []
    last_name_list = []

    line_appender(first_name_list_path, first_name_list)
    line_appender(last_name_list_path, last_name_list)

    first_name_selected = name_selector(first_name_list)
    last_name_selected = name_selector(last_name_list)

    name = first_name_selected+" "+last_name_selected
    return name

if __name__ == '__main__':
    npc1 = NPC(25, 'M')
    print(f'{npc1.name!r}')
    npc2 = NPC(21, 'F')
    print(f'{npc2.name!r}')