Initialize a string variable in Python: “” or None?

Question

Suppose I have a class with a string instance attribute. Should I initialize this attribute with \"\" value or None? Is either

Answer 1

Python philosophy is to be readable.
That's why it's good practice to define your attributes in __init__() even if it's optional.
In the same spirit, you have to ask yourself what clearer for anyone who reads your code. In fact the type itself give much information about future use of your variable. So:

kind = None

Is syntaxically correct, but reader does not know much. Is it a string, a code as integer, a list, etc. ?

kind_str = None
kind = ""

Both say a little more, the first has the type in its name and the second in its declaration. I would go for the second, neater.