__init__ explanation please

[Mel]

Hrvoje Niksic wrote:
> Wildemar Wildenburger <lasses_weil at klapptsowieso.net> writes:
> 
>> Jeroen Ruigrok van der Werven wrote:
>>> To restate it more correctly: __init__ is akin to a constructor.
>>>
>> No. See Hrvoje Niksic's reply (and Ben Finney's to which it was a
>> reply).
>>
>> __init__() /initializes/ an instance (automatically after
>> creation). It is called, /after/ the instance has been constructed
> 
> I don't understand the purpose of this "correction".  After all,
> __init__ *is* the closest equivalent to what other languages would
> call a constructor.  

Nevertheless, __init__ doesn't construct anything.  You can even call 
it to reinitialize an existing object:


Python 2.5.1 (r251:54863, May  2 2007, 16:56:35)
[GCC 4.1.2 (Ubuntu 4.1.2-0ubuntu4)] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
 >>> class AClass (object):
...   def __init__ (self):
...     self.a = 4
...
 >>> a = AClass()
 >>> a.a
4
 >>> a.a = 5
 >>> a.a
5
 >>> a.__init__()
 >>> a.a
4



	Cheers,		Mel.