Suppose I have:
class Super: def __init__(self,a): self.a = a @classmethod def from_b(cls,b): return cls(b.to_a()) class Regular(Super): def __init__(self,b): # how to set my super to the output of super = super.from_b(b)
How do I correctly initialize the super class with the output of the super class method rather than init?
My OOP background is in C++ and I am continually getting into these scenarios due to the ability to overload constructors in C++, so a workaround for this would be awesome.
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Answer
@shx2’s answer works but wastefully/awkwardly creates a throw-away Super
object just to initialize the new Regular
object with its a
attribute.
If you have control over the source of Super
, you can make the from_b
method create an instance of the given subclass, and have the subclass call the from_b
method in its __new__
method instead, so that a Regular
object can be both created and initialized directly:
class Super: def __init__(self, a): self.a = a @classmethod def from_b(cls, b): obj = super().__new__(cls) cls.__init__(obj, b.to_a()) return obj class Regular(Super): def __new__(cls, b): return super().from_b(b)
so that the following assertions will pass:
from unittest.mock import Mock obj = Regular(Mock()) assert type(obj) is Regular assert obj.a.to_a.is_called()