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Puzzle 12: Explanation

Explore how Python manages attribute access through __getattr__ and __getattribute__, understand the risks of infinite recursion, and learn the safest ways to modify attribute access using these hooks to improve your code's robustness.

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Let’s try it!

Try executing the code below to verify the result:

Python 3.8
class Seeker:
    def __getattribute__(self, name):
        if name not in self.__dict__:  
            return '<not found>'
        return self.__dict__[name]
s = Seeker()
print(s.id)

Explanation

When we write s.id, Python does an attribute lookup (see Puzzle 1: Ready Player One). Python defines several hooks that bypass the usual attribute lookup algorithm. The two main ...