title: Calling a parent class constructor from a child class in python
body: <p>So if I have a class:</p>
  
  <pre><code> class Person(object):
  '''A class with several methods that revolve around a person's Name and Age.'''
  
      def __init__(self, name = 'Jane Doe', year = 2012):
          '''The default constructor for the Person class.'''
          self.n = name
          self.y = year
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>And then this subclass:</p>
  
  <pre><code> class Instructor(Person):
  '''A subclass of the Person class, overloads the constructor with a new parameter.'''
       def __init__(self, name, year, degree):
           Person.__init__(self, name, year)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I'm a bit lost on how to get the subclass to call and use the parent class constructor for <code>name</code> and <code>year</code>, while adding the new parameter <code>degree</code> in the subclass.</p>