On Mar 14, 2:16 pm, kuru <maymunbe... at gmail.com> wrote: > Hi >> Thank you so much for all these great suggestions. I will have time > today to try all these and see which one works best for me Answers to your question have spread onto the Python blogosphere as well. http://pythonconquerstheuniverse.wordpress.com/2010/03/17/multiple-constructors-in-a-python-class/ http://blog.dowski.com/2010/03/17/my-take-on-multiple-constructors/ That second one is my response. Christian