Classes in Python

[Bill Martin]

I'm wondering about the value of allowing a class definition like this:

             class C:
               pass

Now I can define a = c() and b = c(), then say a.x1 = 1.2, b.x2 = 3.5 or 
some such. If I try to print a.x2 or b.x1, I get an exception message 
basically saying those member variables don't exist. It seems to me this 
defeats one of the basic ideas behind OOP, that is to assign members to 
the class definition, thus ensuring that all instantiations of a class 
have the same member variables and methods. I know there must be a 
reason that python allows this kind of thing that I described, but I 
can't figure out what that reason could be. To me, it looks like a very 
dangerous thing to do. Can someone help me understand why we'd like to 
do it? Thanks,

Bill Martin