__class__ of what

[Peter Otten]

Eric J. Van der Velden wrote:

> I have,
> 
> class C:
>         n=0
>         def __init__(s):
>                 __class__.n+=1
> 
> 
> I do
>>>> C()
> 
> This is fine. But of what thing I am taking the __class__ of?
> I can also do
> 
>         @staticmethod
>         def p():
>                 print(__class__.n)
> 
>>>> C.p()
> 1

I had no idea that this existed. __class__ was probably added to make 
super() calls without an explicit class argument possible in Python 3. It is 
made available as a closure:

>>> class A:
...     def f(self): __class__
...     def g(self): pass
...
>>> A.f.__closure__[0].cell_contents
<class '__main__.A'>
>>> A.g.__closure__ is None
True

Peter