OOP / language design question

[Duncan Booth]

Carl Banks wrote:

> You know, Python's __init__ has almost the same semantics as C++
> constructors (they both initialize something that's already been
> allocated in memory, and neither can return a substitute object). 

There is a significant difference: imagine B is a base type and C a 
subclass of B:

When you create an object of type C in Python, while B.__init__ is 
executing self is an object of type C (albeit without all the attributes 
you expect on your C).

In C++ when the B() constructor is executing the object is an object of 
type B. It doesn't become a C object until the C() constructor is 
executing.

In other words, the object is constructed in Python before any __init__ is 
called, but in C++ it isn't constructed until after all the base class 
constructors have returned.