this book postponed the super call until now (and omitted it almost entirely in prior editionsbecause it has significant issues--it' prohibitively cumbersome to use in xdiffers in form between and xis based upon unusual semantics in xand mixes poorly with python' multiple inheritance and operator overloading in typical python code in factas we'll seein some code super can actually mask problemsand discourage more explicit coding style that offers better control in its defensethis call does have valid use case too--cooperative same-named method dispatch in diamond multiple inheritance trees--but it seems to ask lot of newcomers it requires that super be used universally and consistently (if not neurotically)much like __slots__ discussed earlierrelies on the arguably obscure mro algorithm to order callsand addresses use case that seems far more the exception than the norm in python programs in this rolesuper seems an advanced tool based upon esoteric principleswhich may be beyond much of python' audienceand seems artificial to real program goals that asideits expectation of universal use seems unrealistic for the vast amount of existing python code because of all these factorsthis introductory-level book has preferred the traditional explicit-name call scheme thus far and recommends the same for newcomers you're better off learning the traditional scheme firstand might be better off sticking with that in generalrather than using an extra special-case tool that may not work in some contextsand relies on arcane magic in the valid but atypical use case it addresses this is not just your author' opiniondespite its advocate' best intentionssuper is not widely recognized as "best practicein python todayfor completely valid reasons on the other handjust as for other tools the increasing use of this call in python code in recent years makes it no longer optional for many python programmers--the first time you see itit' officially mandatoryfor readers who may wish to experiment with superand for other readers who may have it imposed upon themthis section provides brief look at this tool and its rationale--beginning with alternatives to it traditional superclass call formportablegeneral in generalthis book' examples prefer to call back to superclass methods when needed by naming the superclass explicitlybecause this technique is traditional in pythonbecause it works the same in both python and xand because it sidesteps limitations and complexities related to this call in both and as shown earlierthe traditional superclass method call scheme to augment superclass method works as followsclass cdef act(self)print('spam' advanced class topics in python and