python - Why can't I subclass datetime.date?

Question

Why doesn't the following work (Python 2.5.2)?

>>> import datetime
>>> class D(datetime.date):
        def __init__(self, year):
            datetime.date.__init__(self, year, 1, 1)
>>> D(2008)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: function takes exactly 3 arguments (1 given)

I wanted to create a class that was just like datetime.date, but with a different __init__ function. Apparently my function never gets called. Instead the original datetime.date.__init__ is called and fails because that expects 3 arguments and I am passing in one.

What's going on here? And is this a clue?

>>> datetime.date.__init__
<slot wrapper '__init__' of 'object' objects>

Thanks!

Answer 1

Regarding several other answers, this doesn't have anything to do with dates being implemented in C per se. The __init__ method does nothing because they are immutable objects, therefore the constructor (__new__) should do all the work. You would see the same behavior subclassing int, str, etc.

>>> import datetime
>>> class D(datetime.date):
        def __new__(cls, year):
            return datetime.date.__new__(cls, year, 1, 1)


>>> D(2008)
D(2008, 1, 1)