This doesn't look like proper functionality

    Python 3.5.1 (v3.5.1:37a07cee5969, Dec  6 2015, 01:54:25) [MSC v.1900 64 bit (AMD64)] on win32
    Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
    >>> type('')
    <class 'str'>
    >>> type('').startswith('s')
    Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
    TypeError: startswith() takes at least 1 argument (0 given)
    >>> type('').startswith('s', 's')
    True

This is exactly how methods on Python object have been behaving for year: any method can be called either as method on instance, or as method on class, with instance passed as the first argument.

To explain in more detail: ``type('s').startswith`` is the same as ``str.startswith``, which is an unbound method in Python 2 and a regular function in Python 3. Either way, it expects *two* arguments: a string which becomes "self", and a second string argument, which is the prefix being tested for.

So type('any string').startswith('alphabet', 'al') is a long way of writing 'alphabet'.startswith('al').