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Python

Eldin Guzin
Eldin Guzin
6,010 Points
Posted by Eldin Guzin
Eldin Guzin
6,010 Points

I have a question about super()

I don't quite get why do we use this... Can someone explain to me through this example below,why did we need to use super()

class Sneaky: sneaky = True

def __init__(self, sneaky=True, *args, **kwargs):
    super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
    self.sneaky = sneaky

Thanks in advance !

1 Answer

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
243,266 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
243,266 Points

Since you are defining a method named "__init__", if you then call it directly it would be calling itself, which would start a "recursion loop" and crash the program.

But by using "super" you can call the method of the same name in the parent class instead, which causes no loop.

Chris Freeman
Chris Freeman
Treehouse Moderator 68,468 Points
Chris Freeman
Chris Freeman
Treehouse Moderator 68,468 Points

To slice it a bit finer:

Running __init__(*args, **kwargs) yields the error the name __init__ is not defined.

Using self.__init__(*args, **kwargs) would raise the error: RecursionError: maximum recursion depth exceeded while calling a Python object

Eldin Guzin
Eldin Guzin
6,010 Points
Eldin Guzin
Eldin Guzin
6,010 Points

Thanks! That cleared up some things