ClassName.attribute vs self.__class__.attribute

[Gabriel Rossetti]

Duncan Booth wrote:
> Mike Orr <sluggoster at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>   
>> That's a misunderstanding of classes vs instances.  If you have an
>> instance of MyClass(Superclass), there is one instance but several
>> classes.  The instance is of MyClass; there is no instance of
>> Superclass.  'self' has a .__class__ attribute because it's an
>> instance, but MyClass and Superclass do not because they're already
>> classes.
>>     
>
> Classes are also instances, usually they are instances of the type 'type' 
> (and even 'type' is an instance of itself):
>
>   
Ok, I didn't know that
>>>> class SuperClass(object): pass
>>>>         
>
>   
>>>> SuperClass.__class__
>>>>         
> <type 'type'>
>   
>>>> type(SuperClass)
>>>>         
> <type 'type'>
>   
>>>> type.__class__
>>>>         
> <type 'type'>
>
> Old style classes don't have a class attribute, but you shouldn't be using 
> old style classes anyway and so long as you use 
>    type(x)
> to access its class rather than accessing the __class__ attribute directly 
> that doesn't particularly matter.
>
>   
Yes, I don't use old style classes