This is almost the same code as Greg's with the only difference being that test for configuration having been done. But the test is unnecessary. I don't see how setConfig could be invoked in the super of the base class (A), so such a test would be relevant only in subclasses, if they DO invoke setConfig. But it's better if they just don't invoke it, which makes for a much cleaner solution. Thanks anyway.
BTW, you named the attribute configinitialized in one place and configSet in the other place. Which proves that the test is redundant, because it does work anyway as is. I had a similar solution, where I was invoking setConfig only if the class of self is the same as the class where __init__ is defined, something like this: class A (object): def __init__(self, config): self.x = 0 super(A, self).__init__() if A == self.__class__: self.setConfig(config) I didn't like it though because it has to be done like this in every subclass's __init__. And it's a problem that I didn't realize at the time if a subclass just does not need to override __init__ (then the configuration is just not set). Dan "David Fraser" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message news:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > What about using an attribute in the base class to remember whether > initial config has been done? This seems to work: > > #!/usr/bin/python > class A (object): > def __init__(self, config): > self.x = 0 > self.configinitialized = False > super(A, self).__init__() > if not self.configinitialized: > self.setConfig(config) > def setConfig(self, config): > self.x += config['x'] > self.configset = True > > class B (A): > def __init__(self, config): > self.y = 0 > super(B, self).__init__(config) > def setConfig(self, config): > super(B, self).setConfig(config) > self.y += config['y'] > > class C (B): > def __init__(self, config): > self.z = 0 > super(C, self).__init__(config) > def setConfig(self, config): > super(C, self).setConfig(config) > self.z += config['z'] > > config = {'x':1, 'y':2, 'z':3} > alpha = A(config) > print alpha.x > beta = B(config) > print beta.x, beta.y > beta.setConfig(config) > print beta.x, beta.y > gamma = C(config) > print gamma.x, gamma.y, gamma.z > gamma.setConfig(config) > print gamma.x, gamma.y, gamma.z -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list