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Using init vs. new in Metaclasses

Метки: python

It can be confusing when you see metaclass examples that appear to arbitrarily use __new__ or __init__ – why choose one over the other?

__new__ is called for the creation of a new class, while __init__ is called after the class is created, to perform additional initialization before the class is handed to the caller:

# Metaclasses/NewVSInit.py
from pprint import pprint

class Tag1: pass
class Tag2: pass
class Tag3:
    def tag3_method(self): pass

class MetaBase(type):
    def __new__(mcl, name, bases, nmspc):
        print('MetaBase.__new__\n')
        return super(MetaBase, mcl).__new__(mcl, name, bases, nmspc)

    def __init__(cls, name, bases, nmspc):
        print('MetaBase.__init__\n')
        super(MetaBase, cls).__init__(name, bases, nmspc)

class MetaNewVSInit(MetaBase):
    def __new__(mcl, name, bases, nmspc):
        # First argument is the metaclass ``MetaNewVSInit``
        print('MetaNewVSInit.__new__')
        for x in (mcl, name, bases, nmspc): pprint(x)
        print('')
        # These all work because the class hasn't been created yet:
        if 'foo' in nmspc: nmspc.pop('foo')
        name += '_x'
        bases += (Tag1,)
        nmspc['baz'] = 42
        return super(MetaNewVSInit, mcl).__new__(mcl, name, bases, nmspc)

    def __init__(cls, name, bases, nmspc):
        # First argument is the class being initialized
        print('MetaNewVSInit.__init__')
        for x in (cls, name, bases, nmspc): pprint(x)
        print('')
        if 'bar' in nmspc: nmspc.pop('bar') # No effect
        name += '_y' # No effect
        bases += (Tag2,) # No effect
        nmspc['pi'] = 3.14159 # No effect
        super(MetaNewVSInit, cls).__init__(name, bases, nmspc)
        # These do work because they operate on the class object:
        cls.__name__ += '_z'
        cls.__bases__ += (Tag3,)
        cls.e = 2.718

class Test(object):
    __metaclass__ = MetaNewVSInit
    def __init__(self):
        print('Test.__init__')
    def foo(self): print('foo still here')
    def bar(self): print('bar still here')

t = Test()
print('class name: ' + Test.__name__)
print('base classes: ', [c.__name__ for c in Test.__bases__])
print([m for m in dir(t) if not m.startswith("__")])
t.bar()
print(t.e)

""" Output:
MetaNewVSInit.__new__
<class '__main__.MetaNewVSInit'>
'Test'
(<type 'object'>,)
{'__init__': <function __init__ at 0x7ecf0>,
 '__metaclass__': <class '__main__.MetaNewVSInit'>,
 '__module__': '__main__',
 'bar': <function bar at 0x7ed70>,
 'foo': <function foo at 0x7ed30>}

MetaBase.__new__

MetaNewVSInit.__init__
<class '__main__.Test_x'>
'Test'
(<type 'object'>,)
{'__init__': <function __init__ at 0x7ecf0>,
 '__metaclass__': <class '__main__.MetaNewVSInit'>,
 '__module__': '__main__',
 'bar': <function bar at 0x7ed70>,
 'baz': 42}

MetaBase.__init__

Test.__init__
class name: Test_x_z
('base classes: ', ['object', 'Tag1', 'Tag3'])
['bar', 'baz', 'e', 'tag3_method']
bar still here
2.718
"""

The primary difference is that when overriding __new__() you can change things like the ‘name’, ‘bases’ and ‘namespace’ arguments before you call the super constructor and it will have an effect, but doing the same thing in __init__() you won’t get any results from the constructor call.

One special case in __new__() is that you can manipulate things like __slots__, but in __init__() you can’t.

Note that, since the base-class version of __init__() doesn’t make any modifications, it makes sense to call it first, then perform any additional operations. In C++ and Java, the base-class constructor must be called as the first operation in a derived-class constructor, which makes sense because derived-class constructions can then build upon base-class foundations.

In many cases, the choice of __new__() vs __init__() is a style issue and doesn’t matter, but because __new__() can do everything and __init__() is slightly more limited, some people just start using __new__() and stick with it. This use can be confusing – I tend to hunt for the reason that __init__() has been chosen, and if I can’t find it wonder whether the author knew what they were doing. I prefer to only use __new__() when it has meaning – when you must in order to change things that only __new__() can change.

Using __init__ vs. __new__ in Metaclasses

Using init vs. new in Metaclasses