Can you explain the purpose of the __init__ function in Python and how it is used when creating objects?

The __init__ function in Python is a class constructor that is automatically called when a new object is created. It is used to initialize the object's attributes.

Example of usage:

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

# Creating an object
p = Person("Ivan", 30)
print(p.name)  # Ivan
print(p.age)   # 30

Here, __init__ takes parameters name and age and assigns them to the object's attributes self. This allows setting the initial state of the object immediately upon creation.