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From: Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2014 00:03:18 -0700
Subject: Re: Origin of 'self'
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Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.python:67515

On Sun, Mar 2, 2014 at 11:16 PM, Westley Mart=EDnez <anikom15@gmail.com> wr=
ote:
> I understand that in an object method the first argument in the object it=
self, called self.  However, it doesn't have to be called self, and can be =
called anything.  So my question is why is it called self and not this like=
 from C++ and Java.  It's kind of a silly question, but one that I'm curiou=
s about nevertheless.

The idea of requiring references to attributes and methods of self to
be explicit comes from Modula-3; likely the naming convention follows
the same lineage.