Carl Banks wrote: > You know, Python's __init__ has almost the same semantics as C++ > constructors (they both initialize something that's already been > allocated in memory, and neither can return a substitute object).
There is a significant difference: imagine B is a base type and C a subclass of B: When you create an object of type C in Python, while B.__init__ is executing self is an object of type C (albeit without all the attributes you expect on your C). In C++ when the B() constructor is executing the object is an object of type B. It doesn't become a C object until the C() constructor is executing. In other words, the object is constructed in Python before any __init__ is called, but in C++ it isn't constructed until after all the base class constructors have returned. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
