"i find it difficult to understand the difference between the magic

methods

__getattr__ and __getattribute__

and so donot know when to use former or later.

can someone brief me on it ?

This is better understood with a bit of history.

earlier Python versions (before 2.2) the only object model available

was what we now call "classic classes".

Classic instances hold their attributes in a dictionary, called __dict

Attribute lookup starts at this instance dictionary; if not found,

continues in the class, and its parent class, all along the inheritance

tree. If still not found, __getattr__ (if it exists) is called, and should

return the attribute value or raise AttributeError. That is, __getattr__

is called *last*, and *only* when the attribute was not previously found

in the usual places.

Since Python 2.2, there are "new style classes" available; they inherit

directly or indirectly from object. A new style instance may not even have

a __dict An existing __getattribute__ method is tried *first*; it

should return the attribute value or raise AttributeError. If no custom

__getattribute__ exists, the default objectgetattribute__ is used. As a

last resort, if __getattr__ is defined, it is called."