python class variable not visible in __init__?

Question

This code produces an error message, which I found surprising:

class Foo(object):
    custom = 1
    def __init__(self, custom=Foo.custom):
        self._custom          


        

Answer 1

The class body is executed before the class its self is defined, so default argument values can't reference the class. Just making custom the default (without class qualification) should work.