On 15 September 2011 15:41, Matthew Pounsett <matt.pouns...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Sep 15, 1:35 am, Chris Rebert <c...@rebertia.com> wrote: >> Override __new__() instead: >> http://docs.python.org/reference/datamodel.html#object.__new__ > > Aha.. thanks! The reference book I'm working from neglects to mention > __new__, so I'd assumed __init__ was the constructor. It hadn't > occurred to me that python would separate the functions (I still don't > see exactly why it would be useful to do that, but perhaps insight > will come with time).
If you're interested in the reason, I suggest you read Guido's essay on "new style classes" which were introduced in Python 2.2 (and are now a good 10 years old I think): http://www.python.org/download/releases/2.2.3/descrintro -- Arnaud -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list