Terry Hancock wrote: > So far, the only time I've ever encountered this is with the > __new__ method, which, being a classmethod, needs "cls" > (which gets loaded with the *class* not the *instance*). >
The __new__ method isn't actually a classmethod. In http://www.python.org/2.2.3/descrintro.html, GvR wrote: > Factoid: __new__ is a static method, not a class method. I initially > thought it would have to be a class method, and that's why I added the > classmethod primitive. Unfortunately, with class methods, upcalls > don't work right in this case, so I had to make it a static method > with an explicit class as its first argument. Ironically, there are > now no known uses for class methods in the Python distribution (other > than in the test suite). However, class methods are still useful in > other places, for example, to program inheritable alternate > constructors. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
