suppress calling __init__() of parent class

Question

I just noticed some unintended behaviour then tested it in an interpretor (Python 3.5.3):

>>> class SomeClass:
...     def __init__(self):
...         print("nothing important")
... 
>>> a = SomeClass()
nothing important
>>> class SomeOtherClass(SomeClass):
...     pass
... 
>>> b = SomeOtherClass()
nothing important
>>> 

I thought you needed to directly call the parents __init__() . What is the simplest way to write or instantiate the child class such that it does not run the __init__() from the parent class?

Answer 1

You can by defining an __init__ method in the child class:

class SomeOtherClass(SomeClass):
  def __init__(self):
    pass

Answer 2

I want some methods from the parent, just not that the init runs

Then your design is wrong. If you only care about code reuse but not proper subtyping ( as defined by Liskov ), proper designs are either composition/delegation or (probably the best in your case) multiple inheritance with mixin classes:

class CommonMixin():
    def method1(self):
       pass

    def method2(self):
       pass


class SomeClass(CommonMixin, SomeBaseClass):
    def __init__(self):
        print("nothing important")


class SomeOtherClass(CommonMixin, SomeOtherBaseClass):
    pass