Re: [Python-ideas] Explicit self argument, implicit super argument

On 11/19/07, Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> wrote:

The reason for explicit self in method definition signatures is semantic consistency. If you write

class C: def foo(self, x, y): ...

This really *is* the same as writing

class C: pass

def foo(self, x, y): ... C.foo = foo

What about an instancemethod decorator? @instancemethod(C) def foo(x, y): ...

And of course it works the other way as well: you really *can* invoke foo with an explicit argument for self as follows:

class D(C): ...

C.foo(D(), 1, 2)

Couldn't __builtin__.__super__ be used? It would look pretty weird if you invoked a method higher up the MRO, though. I find that these cases come up rarely in my code, while I forget the 'self' argument much more frequently, but YMMV. Luke