Call me ignorant, but I agree. Having something like __init__ and __new__ is very confusing for a beginner, along with stuff like "__init__.py".
It doesn't stop there: Take something like __str__ and __repr__ combined with str(), repr(), vars(), dir(), print(), pprint.pprint()... I have no idea how anyone ever thought it was a good idea to have that many ways to output the content of a variable. Even after all the time I used python I never managed to find a consistent way to output variable values.
I generally like python as a scripting language. But stuff like this made me constantly lookup obscure details in the documentation which made it very hard for me to completely embrace the language. It also prevented me from diving into more arcane stuff like meta-programming...
The dunder functions are there to provide an interface to global functions and operators.
If you want to affect how str(x) behaves, you override x's __str__() method. Operators behave this way too: for example, if you want to overload the == operator for a class, you override __eq__() in that class (for any Java developers reading: Python == works like Java equals(); the Python version of Java == is the is operator, which cannot be overloaded). Yes, that means x == y is just syntactic sugar for x.__eq__(y).
The dunders are there so you have the freedom to name your methods what you want without having to worry that you'll accidentally clobber a method that affects a global or an operator, as most people won't just up and decide to both begin and end a method's name with __.
> combined with str(), repr(), vars(), dir(), print(), pprint.pprint()
Very true! Though since in practice, most people simply use a graphical debugger or pick one of the above as their champion (pprint.pprint is my personal favourite), then I doubt this situation will ever be changed.
It doesn't stop there: Take something like __str__ and __repr__ combined with str(), repr(), vars(), dir(), print(), pprint.pprint()... I have no idea how anyone ever thought it was a good idea to have that many ways to output the content of a variable. Even after all the time I used python I never managed to find a consistent way to output variable values.
I generally like python as a scripting language. But stuff like this made me constantly lookup obscure details in the documentation which made it very hard for me to completely embrace the language. It also prevented me from diving into more arcane stuff like meta-programming...