>>> class A(object): ... def __init__(self): ... self.name = "A" ... self.myFunction() ... >>> class B(A): ... def __init__(self): ... super(B, self).__init__() ... self.count = 0 ... def myFunction(self): ... print self.count ... >>> o = B() Traceback (most recent call last): File "", line 1, in ? File "", line 3, in __init__ File "", line 4, in __init__ File "", line 6, in myFunction AttributeError: 'B' object has no attribute 'count' >>>