New to Python programming, could somebody please explain the fault with this program?

I am very new to Python programming, I am writing a simple fighting game at the moment (text based) that is extremely simple as I'm just learning the basics at the moment. I have placed the code for my game below (it is not finished), my problem is that 开发者_运维技巧every time I run the program, when you enter which character you'd like to play as this error occurs.

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Python26\combat.py", line 60, in <module>
    first_player.attack(second_player)
TypeError: 'int' object is not callable

Here is the code for my game (don't worry it's not very big!).

import time
import random

class player(object):

    def __init__(self, name):

        self.account = name
        self.health = random.randint(50,100)
        self.attack = random.randint(30,40)
        self.alive = True

    def __str__(self):

        if self.alive:
            return "%s (%i health, %i attack)" % (self.account, self.health, self.attack)
        else:
            return self.account, "is dead!"

    def attack(self, enemy):

        print self.account, "attacks", enemy.account, "with %s attack!" % self.attack
        enemy.health -= self.attack
        if enemy.health <= 0:
            enemy.die()

    def die(self):
            print self.account, "dies!"

alive_players = 2

name1 = raw_input("Enter a name: ")
name2 = raw_input("Enter another name: ")

player_list = {"a":player(name1), "b":player(name2)}

while alive_players == 2:

    print
    for player_name in sorted(player_list.keys()):
        print player_name, player_list[player_name]
    print

    player1 = raw_input("Who would you like to play as? (a/b): ").lower()

    try:
        first_player=player_list[player1]
    except KeyError, wrong_name:
        print wrong_name, "does not exist!"
        continue

    if first_player==player(name1):
        second_player=player(name2)
    else:
        second_player=player(name1)

    time.sleep(1)
    print
    print "*" * 30
    first_player.attack(second_player)
    second_player.attack(first_player)

I know There are workarounds like appending the characters to the list AFTER the player picks the names, although I would like to have a further understanding of classes and want to know why this does not work! If possible could somebody please explain the fault and how I can fix it? I have been looking at this for three days, I could do it differently and make it work, but I would like to understand why THIS doesn't work first!

Thanks in advance! -Charlie

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first_player.attack is a number because of self.attack = random.randint(30,40). I suspect that you want that named differently so that it doesn't overwrite your attack method.

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__init__() shadows the attack() method on the object. Use a different name.

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The variable for each players attack-strength has the same name as the function for attack, so when you call first_player.attack(), it's trying to call an int as if it was a function. Rename the function to something like "attack_player()" or the attack rating as "attack_value", or something, and it should work.