1. Alex Martelli to the rescue:
   
   In the new-style object model, implicit use of special methods always relies on the class-level binding of the special method, if any ... [this] regularizes and simplifies the relationship between classes and metaclasses, covered in "Metaclasses" later in this chapter.
   
   Python in a Nutshell, p.87-88
     posted by an anonymous coward at 10:22:09 AM on July 29, 2004  
2. I can't say I like it, but new style classes at lesat (AFAKI) are consistent and _all_ __special__ methods are looked up on the class.
   
   what I would like to know is why, I have heard that it makes certain things conceptually simpler, but still don't really understand why this is needed at all. Anyone knows?
   
   I would think that if _all_ methods resolution should work the same way, but maybe I'm missing something?
     posted by uriel at 03:37:03 AM on July 30, 2004  
3. re anonymous coward:
   
   Yes, that is exactly the quote I was thinking about. Still I don't understand how making __special__ methods special helps with metaclasses.
     posted by uriel at 03:39:26 AM on July 30, 2004