"my brain hurts" or is isinstance broken?

[Robert Kuzelj]

hi jonathan,

> 1. Reverse the test and check to see if something is an instance of 'type'
>    of 'types.ClassType', i.e., a new-style class or an old-style class.
> 
>    if isinstance(source, type) or isinstance(source, types.ClassType)
>        return source()
>    else:
>        return copy.copy( source )
that is exactly what i did. but i dont like this solution cause
as i told before it is rather implicit than explicit.

> 2. If you know that the instances you are creating will not have '__call__'
>    methods, then you can differentiate classes and instances by the fact
>    that classes are callable:
> 
>    if callable( source ):
>        return source()
>    else:
>        return copy.copy( source )
> 
>    This works equally well for old- and new-style classes. Conveniently it
>    also works functions that create objects and callable instances
>    masquerading as classes or functions that create objects (hoo hah).
cant do that since i have absolutly no control of what is being given
to me.
 
> Oh, you can tell us. No matter what crimes your contemplating, you can take
> comfort in the fact that they can probably be made more horrifying with
> metaclasses ;-)
;-) dont despair! i WILL use metaclasses on a later stage of the project.

ciao robertj