Difference between __getattr__ vs __getattribute__

Question

I am trying to understand when to use __getattr__ or __getattribute__. The documentation mentions __getattribute__ applies to new-sty

Answer 1

New-style classes are ones that subclass "object" (directly or indirectly). They have a __new__ class method in addition to __init__ and have somewhat more rational low-level behavior.

Usually, you'll want to override __getattr__ (if you're overriding either), otherwise you'll have a hard time supporting "self.foo" syntax within your methods.

Extra info: http://www.devx.com/opensource/Article/31482/0/page/4