Proposal: default __init__

[Andrew Dalke]

Aahz Maruch wrote:
>while
>Python does not have any restrictions on argument types passed to
>methods (and functions), Python does definitely restrict the number of
>items in the parameter list for a method (modulo specific mechanisms for
>creating variable-length parameter lists).  Following the "explicit is
>better than implicit" rule, you are therefore required to create the
>signature of any method/function that you wish to call.

*Except* that

class Blah:
  pass

blah = Blah()

works without having an explicit Blah.__init__.  This violates the
"explicit is better than implicit" rule in favor of making it easier
to create classes.

Suppose that all classes needed to define an __init__ in order to
create an instance.  Then the signature would be explicit in all cases
and I could always call BaseClass.__init__(self, ...) and I would
not be suggesting this proposal.

Classes don't need an __init__ to create instances, and that's the
crux of the problem.

                    Andrew
                    dalke at acm.org