New submission from Aahz : http://docs.python.org/dev/tutorial/classes.html Chapter 9 of the Tutorial contains this intro paragraph: Python's class mechanism adds classes to the language with a minimum of new syntax and semantics. It is a mixture of the class mechanisms found in C++ and Modula-3. As is true for modules, classes in Python do not put an absolute barrier between definition and user, but rather rely on the politeness of the user not to "break into the definition." The most important features of classes are retained with full power, however: the class inheritance mechanism allows multiple base classes, a derived class can override any methods of its base class or classes, and a method can call the method of a base class with the same name. Objects can contain an arbitrary amount of data. A coworker found particularly the third sentence incomprehensible, and even with ten years of Python under my belt, I can't say that it makes much more sense to me. I know what it must be trying to say and therefore proffer this suggested rewrite: Compared with other programming languages, Python's class mechanism adds classes with a minimum of new syntax and semantics. It is a mixture of the class mechanisms found in C++ and Modula-3. Python classes provide all the standard features of Object Oriented Programming: the class inheritance mechanism allows multiple base classes, a derived class can override any methods of its base class or classes, and a method can call the method of a base class with the same name. Objects can contain arbitrary amounts and kinds of data. As is true for modules, classes partake of the dynamic nature of Python; users of a class can modify or break the class definition even without changing the source code. ---------- assignee: docs@python components: Documentation messages: 109080 nosy: aahz, docs@python priority: critical severity: normal stage: patch review status: open title: Tutorial: classes intro paragraph icky type: behavior versions: Python 2.7 _______________________________________ Python tracker http://bugs.python.org/issue9138 _______________________________________