__lt__ instead of __cmp__

Question

Python 2.x has two ways to overload comparison operators, __cmp__ or the \"rich comparison operators\" such as __lt__. The rich comparison overloads are said to be

Answer 1

To simplify this case there's a class decorator in Python 2.7+/3.2+, functools.total_ordering, that can be used to implement what Alex suggests. Example from the docs:

@total_ordering
class Student:
    def __eq__(self, other):
        return ((self.lastname.lower(), self.firstname.lower()) ==
                (other.lastname.lower(), other.firstname.lower()))
    def __lt__(self, other):
        return ((self.lastname.lower(), self.firstname.lower()) <
                (other.lastname.lower(), other.firstname.lower()))