[Python-3000] Give power to __getattr__

[Nick Coghlan]

Kay Schluehr wrote:
> What I'm looking for is capturing the call of an arbitrary special 
> method without implementing it explicitely. This would enable delegating 
> a call on __add__ to another class that implements __add__. This could 
> either be done by empowering __getattribute__ or use the now residual 
> __getattr__ that has no value in case of an __getattribute__ 
> implementation. Of course if we are free to choose a name it would be 
> better to use a non-confusing name e.g.  __getspecialattr__ that is used 
> when the attribute is the name of a special method and the method 
> accordingly is neither an instance attribute nor could it be found in 
> the class tree.

Ah, I see what you're getting at - currently the interpreter doesn't fall back 
to the generic __getattribute__ slot for most special methods, so it makes it 
harder to write proxy objects, and those proxy objects aren't future proof.

I suspect the right answer to that is to provide better metaprogramming tools 
to make writing proxy objects easier, rather than providing additional 
fallback paths for the special methods in the interpreter (as the latter slows 
down the common case to benefit the comparatively rare case of proxying).

Exactly what those tools might be, I'm not sure :)

Cheers,
Nick.

-- 
Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan at gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia
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