Why I Prefer Python

In developing Phoo today I was unpleasantly presented with yet another reason why I prefer Python. It was when I was working on the new Importer API for loading external modules into Phoo that I accidentally did this:

class Importer { /* stub class */ }
class FetchImporter extends Importer {
    constructor(basePath, fetchOptions = {}) {
        /* no super() here */
        this.basePath = basePath;
        this.fetchOptions = fetchOptions;
    }
    /* snip */
}

Normally this construct would work in Python as well: A stub base class (which really would be an interface had I written Phoo in Typescript) is then overridden to provide the functionality.

The superclass (Importer) has no constructor, so I naturally figured I would not need to call super() in the subclass.

Then I got this:

ReferenceError: Must call super constructor in derived class before accessing 'this' or returning from derived constructor

Well, I’ll be! Really?? Python would allow this. I thought Javascript was a duck-typed language which would similarly allow this.

Oh well…

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