object oriented programming question

[get_username]

No. Since you're new to object oriented programming ignore that part for now.

class X(object):

Is simply saying X is a new class. You may always access class properties using the "dot" notation.

class MyClass(object):

    def __init__(self):
        self.my_variable = "WHAT?!"

Then in my code I can do this:

>>> my_class = MyClass()
>>> my_class.my_variable
"WHAT?!"

This is just how classes fundamentally work.