[Python-3000] Types and classes

[Paul Prescod]

Apologies if this has been discussed before.

But does anyone else find it odd that the types of some things are
classes and the classes of some things are types?

>>> type(socket.socket())
<class 'socket.socket'>
>>> type("abc")
<type 'str'>
>>> socket.socket().__class__
<class 'socket.socket'>
>>> "abc".__class__
<type 'str'>

In a recent talk I could only explain this as a historical quirk. As I
understand, it is now possible to make types that behave basically
exactly like classes and classes that behave exactly like types. Is
there any important difference between them anymore?

 Paul Prescod