Meaning of self.__dict__ = self in a class definition

Question

I'm trying to understand the following snippet of code:

class Config(dict):
    def __init__(self):
        self.__dict__ = self

What is the purpose of the line self.__dict__ = self? I suppose it overrides the default __dict__ function with something that simply returns the object itself, but since Config inherits from dict I haven't been able to find any difference with the default behavior.

Answer 1

Assigning the dictionary self to __dict__ allows attribute access and item access:

>>> c = Config()
>>> c.abc = 4
>>> c['abc']
4