how to use more than 1 __init__ constructor in a class ?

[Rocco Moretti]

Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 12:34:21 -0500, Rocco Moretti wrote:
>
> 
>>You could also turn __init__ into a dispatch fuction:
>>
>>#--
>>class myPointClass:
>>   def __init__(self, *args):
>>     if len(args) <= 2:
>>       self.__init_two(*args)
>>     if len(args) == 3:
>>       self.__init_three(*args)
> 
> 
> Oh wow, so that's what I've been doing for years. Dispatching.
> 
> And I thought I was just calling other functions :-)

I think the distinction between just calling other functions and 
dispatching is that with dispatching, the function doesn't do any actual 
work by itself, but just hands off the work to a different function.

http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?DispatchingForDummies

> That's the joys of a mostly self-taught programming knowledge: you miss
> out on all the buzzwords.

Being mostly self taught myself, I have a tendancy to use infrequently 
encountered terms in related but technically inappropriate contexts, 
confusing the better informed people I deal with. ;-)