Python Data Structures and Algorithms

Special methods

We can use the dir(object) function to get a list of attributes of a particular object. The methods that begin and end with two underscores are called special methods. Apart from the following exception, special method, are generally called by the Python interpreter rather than the programmer; for example, when we use the + operator, we are actually invoking a call to __add__(). For example, rather than using my_object.__len__() we can use len(my_object) using len() on a string object is actually much faster because it returns the value representing the object's size in memory, rather than making a call to the object's __len__ method. The only special method we actually call in our programs, as common practice, is the __init__ ...