Why does Python 2.7 namedtuple implement __dict__?

Question

The namedtuple implementation in Python 2.7 implements __dict__. I\'m confused what this is doing; why do we need to make a special __dict__<

Answer 1

They just thought it would be convenient. Turns out it was more hassle than it was worth, causing issues with pickling and with subclasses, and it was conceptually confusing anyway. More recent Python versions don't have it any more.