Improve discussion about how __getattr__ is invoked. (GH-31435)

diff --git a/Doc/howto/descriptor.rst b/Doc/howto/descriptor.rst
index 4f6389e3b2d487524910f0734a3bff700125037b..825e9d0347f5d02ff0f59a0d5eaf97f254cd12a2 100644 (file)
--- a/Doc/howto/descriptor.rst
+++ b/Doc/howto/descriptor.rst
@@ -696,10 +696,14 @@ a pure Python equivalent:
     >>> b.g == b['g'] == ('getattr_hook', b, 'g')
     True
 
+Note, there is no :meth:`__getattr__` hook in the :meth:`__getattribute__`
+code.  That is why calling :meth:`__getattribute__` directly or with
+``super().__getattribute__`` will bypass :meth:`__getattr__` entirely.
 
-Interestingly, attribute lookup doesn't call :meth:`object.__getattribute__`
-directly.  Instead, both the dot operator and the :func:`getattr` function
-perform attribute lookup by way of a helper function:
+Instead, it is the dot operator and the :func:`getattr` function that are
+responsible for invoking :meth:`__getattr__` whenever :meth:`__getattribute__`
+raises an :exc:`AttributeError`.  Their logic is encapsulated in a helper
+function:
 
 .. testcode::
 
@@ -744,12 +748,6 @@ perform attribute lookup by way of a helper function:
         ...
     AttributeError: 'ClassWithoutGetAttr' object has no attribute 'z'
 
-So if :meth:`__getattr__` exists, it is called whenever :meth:`__getattribute__`
-raises :exc:`AttributeError` (either directly or in one of the descriptor calls).
-
-Also, if a user calls :meth:`object.__getattribute__` directly, the
-:meth:`__getattr__` hook is bypassed entirely.
-
 
 Invocation from a class
 -----------------------