declarations within python class equivalent to _init_?

Question

I was wondering if the declarations put at the top of the python class are equivalent to statements in __init__? For example

import sys

class bla():
    print 'not init'
    def __init__(self):
        print 'init'
    def whatever(self):
        print 'whatever'

def main():
    b=bla()
    b.whatever()
    return 0

if __name__ == '__main__':
    sys.exit( main() )

The output is:

not init
init
whatever

As a sidenote, right now I also get:

Fatal Python error: PyImport_GetModuleDict: no module dictionary!

This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way.
Please contact the application's support team for more information.

Any ideas on why this is? Thank you in advance!

Answer 1

No, it's not equivalent. The statement print 'not init' is run while the class bla is being defined, even before you instantiate an object of type bla.

>>> class bla():
...    print 'not init'
...    def __init__(self):
...        print 'init'
not init

>>> b = bla()
init