Python 3.3.0+ (3.3:152d85b2da3a, Oct  6 2012, 13:17:54) 
[GCC 4.6.3] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> from types import SimpleNamespace
>>> class Foo(SimpleNamespace):
...   pass
... 
>>> y = Foo(bar=8, foo=9)
>>> y
namespace()

It doesn't work to define an __init__ method, either, which is what I really wanted to do.  (I was subclassing to get the nice repr).

I have verified that the __init__ function isn't executed when SimpleNamespace is subclasses. I guess that's happening:

http://docs.python.org/py3k/c-api/typeobj.html?highlight=tp_init#PyTypeObject.tp_init

"If the tp_new function returns an instance of some other type that is not a subtype of the original type, no tp_init function is called; if tp_new returns an instance of a subtype of the original type, the subtype’s tp_init is called."

namespace_new always returns a namespace object no matter what. As namespace is not a subclass of the Foo (the other way around), the type check in type_call() fails and __init__ isn't called. The tp_new method needs a fix.

That looks all wrong to me:

>>> import types
>>> class SubNS(types.SimpleNamespace):
...     pass
... 
>>> SubNS.__new__(SubNS)
namespace()

That's about right:

>>> class SubStr(str):
...     pass
... 
>>> type(SubStr.__new__(SubStr))
<class '__main__.SubStr'>

Yikes.  I'll get a patch up tonight.

Here's a patch that fixes subclass support.  It was supposed to work in the first place.  Guess I had tunnel vision at the time.

The fix is essentially a copy of the code in dict_new() in Objects/dictobject.c.  I left out the part about releasing GC if the type is not a subclass.

Note: see #15022, #15004, and #15003 for other things SimpleNamespace is missing.  I can get those done if it would be meaningful to you.

Thanks.  I don't have a need for those in my current application at the current time.

Here's an updated patch that addresses Éric's review comments.

Am I good to commit this?

New changeset c5124145e79e by Eric Snow in branch '3.3':
Close #16160: Subclass support now works for types.SimpleNamespace.  Thanks to RDM for noticing.
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/c5124145e79e

New changeset 47b9732696eb by Eric Snow in branch 'default':
merge for issue #16160: Subclass support now works for types.SimpleNamespace.
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/47b9732696eb