python class继承dict,Python类继承和__dict__查找

Let's say I define class A:

>>> class A:

... a = 1

... class SubA:

... sub_a = { 'a': 1, 'b': 1}

Then I define class B that inherits from A:

>>> class B(A):

... pass

Now, check __dict__ of A and __dict__ of B:

>>> A.__dict__

{'a': 1, '__module__': '__builtin__', '__doc__': None, 'SubA': }

>>> B.__dict__

{'__module__': '__builtin__', '__doc__': None}

Somehow, B.__dict__ contains neither 'a' nor 'SubA'.

Now if we do:

>>> A.a

1

>>> B.a

1

>>> A.SubA

>>> B.SubA

First question: why B.__dict__ does not contain 'a' and 'SubA'?

Second question: Why B.a and B.SubA give the expected results, although neither 'a' nor 'SubA' is in B's __dict__?

Thanks!

解决方案

@bgporter has given a good explanation of the behaviour, I'll just go into why a little:

If your class variable was in B.__dict__, how would it function? Each subclass would have it's own value for a, independent of the value for A.a - this is not what you would expect. A class variable should exist once - in that class.

Instead, Python does a lookup on the class and if it doesn't exist, then looks up to it's base classes - note that means it is possible to shadow a class variable in a subclass.