[Python-Dev] Classes and Metaclasses in Smalltalk (original) (raw)

Guido van Rossum guido@digicool.com
Wed, 02 May 2001 10:05:30 -0500

guido wrote:

> > class MyClass (BaseClass): > > def foo (self, arg1, arg2): > > super.foo(arg1, arg2) > > I'm sure that's everybody's favorite way to spell it! not mine. my brain contains far too much Python 1.5.2 code for it to accept that some variables are dynamically scoped, while others are lexically scoped. why not spell it out: self.super.foo(arg1, arg2) or self.super.foo(arg1, arg2) or super(self).foo(arg1, arg2) > Or, to relieve the burden from the symbol table, we could make super > a keyword, at the cost of breaking existing code. hey, how about introducing $ as a keyword prefix for newly introduced keywords? $super.foo(arg1, arg2) (this can of course be mapped to either of my previous suggestions; "$foo" either means "self.foo" or "foo(self)"...) and to save a little typing, only use it for keywords that start with an "s" (should leave us plenty of expansion room): $uper.foo(arg1, arg2) otoh, if "super" is common enough to motivate introducing magic objects into python, maybe "$" should mean "super."? $foo(arg1, arg2) and while we're at it, let's introduce "@" for "self.". gotta run -- time for my monthly reboot /F

LOL! But you forgot the spelling of

self.__super.foo(arg1, arg2)

which would pass in the class name that's the other necessary input to a proper implementation of super. :-)

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)