What are 'attributes' in the context of classes?

In the context of classes, attributes refer to the variables associated with a class that hold data or state information about the objects created from that class. Attributes define the properties of an object, allowing it to maintain its state and provide contextual information relevant to the class. For example, in a class representing a 'Car', attributes might include 'color', 'make', and 'model', which describe the specific characteristics of that car instance.

While methods (which might be mentioned in the context of a list of methods) are functions that define behavior, they do not represent the data itself but rather the actions that can be performed on or by that data. Attributes, therefore, serve a distinct purpose by maintaining the internal state of objects, which is crucial for object-oriented programming.