radix asked me if I had a blog post about why changing a class from classic to new-style is a bad idea. After I told him that I didn’t he insisted that I should write one. Since doing so will take less work than finding something else to distract his attention, here it is:

• 
  attribute lookup
  

  
  Attributes on instances of classic classes override attributes of the same name on their class. For example:
  

  >>> class SimpleDescriptor(object):
  ...     def __get__(self, instance, type):
  ...             print 'getting'
  ...             return instance.__dict__['simple']
  ...     def __set__(self, instance, value):
  ...             print 'setting'
  ...             instance.__dict__['simple'] = value
  ...
  >>> class classic:
  ...     simple = SimpleDescriptor()
  ...
  >>> x = classic()
  >>> x.simple = 10
  >>> x.simple
  10
  >>> class newstyle(object):
  ...     simple = SimpleDescriptor()
  ...
  >>> x = newstyle()
  >>> x.simple
  getting
  Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "", line 1, in ?
    File "", line 4, in __get__
  KeyError: 'simple'
  >>> x.simple = 10
  setting
  >>> x.simple
  getting
  10

  
  As you can see, the descriptor on the new-style class can both handle the setattr and continue to operate after shadowing itself with an instance variable.
  

  
  

• 
  Special methods
  

  
  A particularly interesting consequence of the previous point is that the behavior of special methods changes in some cases:
  

  >>> class x:
  ...     def __init__(self):
  ...             self.__eq__ = lambda other: True
  ...
  >>> x() == 10
  True
  >>> class x(object):
  ...     def __init__(self):
  ...             self.__eq__ = lambda other: True
  ...
  >>> x() == 10
  False
  >>>

  
  

  
  

• 
  MRO
  

  
  Rules for determining the method resolution forbid new-style classes in places where classic classes are acceptable. Consider:
  

  >>> class x: pass
  ...
  >>> class y(object, x): pass
  ...
  >>> class x(object): pass
  ...
  >>> class y(object, x): pass
  ...
  Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "", line 1, in ?
  TypeError: Error when calling the metaclass bases
      Cannot create a consistent method resolution
  order (MRO) for bases object, x
  >>>

  
  

  
  

Hopefully that’s enough to satisfy radix. Know of other incompatibilities? Please comment.