python multiple inheritance passing arguments to constructors using super

Question

Consider the following snippet of python code

class A(object):
    def __init__(self, a):
        self.a = a

class B(A):
    def __init__(self, a, b):
        super(B, self).__init__(a)
        self.b = b

class C(A):
    def __init__(self, a, c):
        super(C, self).__init__(a)
        self.c = c

class D(B, C):
    def __init__(self, a, b, c, d):
        #super(D,self).__init__(a, b, c) ???
        self.d = d

I am wondering how can I pass a, b and c to corresponding base classes' constructors.

Answer 1

Well, when dealing with multiple inheritance in general, your base classes (unfortunately) should be designed for multiple inheritance. Classes B and C in your example aren't, and thus you couldn't find a proper way to apply super in D.

One of the common ways of designing your base classes for multiple inheritance, is for the middle-level base classes to accept extra args in their __init__ method, which they are not intending to use, and pass them along to their super call.

Here's one way to do it in python:

class A(object):
    def __init__(self,a):
        self.a=a

class B(A):
    def __init__(self,b,**kw):
        self.b=b
        super(B,self).__init__(**kw)

 class C(A):
    def __init__(self,c,**kw):
        self.c=c
        super(C,self).__init__(**kw)

class D(B,C):
    def __init__(self,a,b,c,d):
        super(D,self).__init__(a=a,b=b,c=c)
        self.d=d

This can be viewed as disappointing, but that's just the way it is.