Difference between __getattr__ and __getattribute__
getattr, getattribute, python
Solution
A key difference between `__getattr__` and `__getattribute__` is that `__getattr__` is only invoked if the attribute wasn't found the usual ways. It's good for implementing a fallback for missing attributes, and is probably the one of two you want.
`__getattribute__` is invoked before looking at the actual attributes on the object, and so can be tricky to implement correctly. You can end up in infinite recursions very easily.
New-style classes derive from `object`, old-style classes are those in Python 2.x with no explicit base class. But the distinction between old-style and new-style classes is not the important one when choosing between `__getattr__` and `__getattribute__`.
You almost certainly want `__getattr__`.
Problem
I am trying to understand when to define `__getattr__` or `__getattribute__`. The python documentation mentions `__getattribute__` applies to new-style classes. What are new-style classes?