Python stores an object's attributes in a dictionary, and it lets you look at it through the special attribute __dict__. For an instance, obj.__dict__ maps the names of its instance variables to their values. For a class, ClassName.__dict__ holds the class's own contents: class variables, methods and a few special entries. Examining these dictionaries makes the instance-versus-class distinction concrete, and exam questions often ask you to predict what __dict__ prints.
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