coloring a complex number

[Arthur]

Spending the morning avoiding responsibilities, and seeing what it would
take to color some complex numbers.

class color_complex(complex):
         def  __init__(self,*args,**kws):
                 complex.__init__(*args)
                 self.color=kws.get('color', 'BLUE')

>>> a=color_complex(1,7)
>>> print a
(1+7j)                                                      #good so far
>>> a=color_complex(1,7,color='BLUE') 
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<pyshell#37>", line 1, in -toplevel-
    a=color_complex(1,7,color='BLUE')
TypeError: 'color' is an invalid keyword argument for this function

No good... it seems that I am actually subclassing the built_in function
'complex' when I am hoping to have been subclassing the built_in numeric
type - complex.

but some googling sends me to lib/test/test_descr.py

where there a working subclass of complex more in
accordance with my intentions.

class color_complex(complex):
    def __new__(cls,*args,**kws):
            result = complex.__new__(cls, *args)
            result.color = kws.get('color', 'BLUE')
            return result

>>> a=color_complex(1,7,color='BLUE')
>>> print a
(1+7j)
>>> print a.color
BLUE

which is very good.

But on the chance that I end up pursuing this road, it would be good if
I understood what I just did. It would certainly help with my
documentation  ;)

Assistance appreciated.

NOTE:

The importance of the asset of the depth and breadth of Python archives
-  for learning (and teaching) and real world production - should not be
underestimated, IMO. I could be confident if there was an answer to
getting the functionality I was looking for as above, it would be found
easily enough by a google search.  It is only with the major
technologies that one can hope to pose a question of almost any kind to
google and get the kind of relevant hits one gets when doing a Python
related search.  Python is certainly a major technology, in that
respect.  As these archives serve as an extension to the documentation,
the body of Python documentation is beyond any  normal expectation.

True, this asset is generally better for answers than explanations.

I got the answer I needed.  Pursuing here some explanation of that answer.

Art