Code Kills

The dangers of Python's super have been documented... but, in my humble opinion, not well enough.

A major problem with Python's super() is that it is not straight forward to figure out needs to call it, even if it doesn't seem like the method's parent class should need to.

Consider this example, where mixins are used to update a dictionary with some context (similar to, but less correct than, for example, Django's TemplateView):

class FirstMixin(object):
    def get_context(self):
        return {"first": True}

class BaseClass(FirstMixin):
    def get_context(self):
        ctx = super(BaseClass, self).get_context()
        ctx.update({"base": True})
        return ctx

class SecondMixin(object):
    def get_context(self):
        ctx = super(SecondMixin, self).get_context()
        ctx.update({"second": True})
        return ctx

class ConcreteClass(BaseClass, SecondMixin):
    pass

This looks correct... but it isn't! Because FirstMixin doesn't call super(), SecondMixin.get_context is never called:

>>> c = ConcreteClass()
>>> c.get_context()
{"base": True, "first": True} # Note that ``"second": True`` is missing!

Alternatively, image that FirstMixin.get_context() does call super():

class FirstMixin(object):
    def get_context(self):
        ctx = super(FirstMixin, self).get_context()
        ctx.update({"first": True})
        return ctx

This will also be incorrect, because now the call to super() in SecondMixin will trigger an error, because the final base class - object - does not have a get_context() method:

>>> c = ConcreteClass()
>>> c.get_context()
...
AttributeError: 'super' object has no attribute 'get_context'

What is a poor Pythonista to do?

There are three reasonably simple rules to follow when dealing with this kind of multiple inheritance:

1. Mixins should always call super().
2. The base class should not call super().
3. The base class (or one of its super classes) needs to be at the right of sub-classe's list of base classes.

Note that this will often mean introducing an otherwise unnecessary *Base class.

To correct the example above:

# Following rule (1), every mixin calls `super()`
class FirstMixin(object):
    def get_context(self):
        ctx = super(FirstMixin, self).get_context()
        ctx.update({"first": True})
        return ctx

# Following rule (2), the base class does *not* call super.
class BaseClassBase(object):
    def get_context(self):
        return {"base": True}

# Notice that, to follow rule (3), an otherwise uneccessary base class has
# been introduced to make sure that the "real" base class (the one without
# the call to super) can be at the very right of the list of base classess.
class BaseClass(FirstMixin, BaseClassBase):
    pass

# Following rule (3), the base class comes at the right end of the list
# of base classess.
class ConcreteClass(SecondMixin, BaseClass):
    pass

This will guarantee that the mixins are always called before the base class, which doesn't call super() in get_context().

Note that this will still cause problems in the even that multiple base classess are used (ie, "true" multiple inheritance)... and there isn't much which can be done about that, at least in the general case.

It is also worth noting that that in many cases the best solution is to avoid inheritance all together, opting instead for a pattern better suited to the requirements of the specific problem at hand.

For example, in the sitaution from the example above - where many different "things" (in the above example: mixins and the base class) need to contribute to the "context" dictionary - one option which might be more appropriate is an explicit set of "context providers":

class FirstContextProvider(object):
    def __call__(self):
        return {"first": True}

class BaseClass(FirstMixin):
    context_providers = [
        FirstContextProvider(),
        lambda: {"base": True},
    ]

    def get_context(self):
        ctx = {}
        for provider in self.context_providers:
            ctx.update(provider())
        return ctx

class SecondContextProvider(object):
    def __call__(self):
        return {"second": True}

class ConcreteClass(BaseClass, SecondMixin):
    context_providers = BaseClass.context_providers + [
        SecondContextProvider(),
    ]

(recall that __call__ method is used to make instances of a call callable)

Edit: I was corrected by @lambacck, who pointed out the "base class on the right" rule: https://twitter.com/lambacck/status/451528854507905024