Skip to content

Super Class

Most Tutorials Call super() a Function But It’s Actually a Class

Many tutorials explain how to use super() and highlight its benefits, but they often use imprecise terminology. For example:

These descriptions aren't technically wrong in terms of simplicity, but they can be misleading.

What Does Python Itself Say?

The official Python documentation and the source code of CPython treat super as a built-in class.

super() acts like a function call, but behind the scenes, you are instantiating the super class that returns a proxy object

Proof: super is a Class (CPython Source)

Below is the actual implementation of super in CPython, written in C. This makes it crystal clear: super is defined as a PyTypeObject, which is how Python internally represents classes.

C
 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
PyTypeObject PySuper_Type = {
    PyVarObject_HEAD_INIT(&PyType_Type, 0)
    "super",                                    /* tp_name */
    sizeof(superobject),                        /* tp_basicsize */
    0,                                          /* tp_itemsize */
    /* methods */
    super_dealloc,                              /* tp_dealloc */
    0,                                          /* tp_vectorcall_offset */
    0,                                          /* tp_getattr */
    0,                                          /* tp_setattr */
    0,                                          /* tp_as_async */
    super_repr,                                 /* tp_repr */
    0,                                          /* tp_as_number */
    0,                                          /* tp_as_sequence */
    0,                                          /* tp_as_mapping */
    0,                                          /* tp_hash */
    0,                                          /* tp_call */
    0,                                          /* tp_str */
    super_getattro,                             /* tp_getattro */
    0,                                          /* tp_setattro */
    0,                                          /* tp_as_buffer */
    Py_TPFLAGS_DEFAULT | Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC |
        Py_TPFLAGS_BASETYPE,                    /* tp_flags */
    super_doc,                                  /* tp_doc */
    super_traverse,                             /* tp_traverse */
    0,                                          /* tp_clear */
    0,                                          /* tp_richcompare */
    0,                                          /* tp_weaklistoffset */
    0,                                          /* tp_iter */
    0,                                          /* tp_iternext */
    0,                                          /* tp_methods */
    super_members,                              /* tp_members */
    0,                                          /* tp_getset */
    0,                                          /* tp_base */
    0,                                          /* tp_dict */
    super_descr_get,                            /* tp_descr_get */
    0,                                          /* tp_descr_set */
    0,                                          /* tp_dictoffset */
    super_init,                                 /* tp_init */
    PyType_GenericAlloc,                        /* tp_alloc */
    PyType_GenericNew,                          /* tp_new */
    PyObject_GC_Del,                            /* tp_free */
    .tp_vectorcall = super_vectorcall,
};

Sources I Believe!

  • CPython Source: https://github.com/PyDeepOlympus/cPyDeepOlympus/blob/main/Objects/typeobject.c
  • Official Documentation: https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#super