[Josiah]
Agreed. While it seems that super() is the 'modern paradigm' for this, I have been using base.method(self, ...) for years now, and have been quite happy with it. After attempting to convert my code to use the super() paradigm, and having difficulty, I discovered James Knight's "Python's Super Considered Harmful" (available at http://www.ai.mit.edu/people/jknight/super-harmful/ ), wherein I discovered how super really worked (I should have read the documention in the first place), and reverted my changes to the base.method version.
I think that James Y Knight's page misrepresents the issue. Quoting: """ Note that the __init__ method is not special -- the same thing happens with any method, I just use __init__ because it is the method that most often needs to be overridden in many classes in the hierarchy. """ But __init__ *is* special, in that it is okay for a subclass __init__ (or __new__) to have a different signature than the base class __init__; this is not true for other methods. If you change a regular method's signature, you would break Liskov substitutability (i.e., your subclass instance wouldn't be acceptable where a base class instance would be acceptable). Super is intended for use that are designed with method cooperation in mind, so I agree with the best practices in James's Conclusion: """ * Use it consistently, and document that you use it, as it is part of the external interface for your class, like it or not. * Never call super with anything but the exact arguments you received, unless you really know what you're doing. * When you use it on methods whose acceptable arguments can be altered on a subclass via addition of more optional arguments, always accept *args, **kw, and call super like "super(MyClass, self).currentmethod(alltheargsideclared, *args, **kwargs)". If you don't do this, forbid addition of optional arguments in subclasses. * Never use positional arguments in __init__ or __new__. Always use keyword args, and always call them as keywords, and always pass all keywords on to super. """ But that's not the same as calling it harmful. :-( -- --Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)