import sys info = sys.version_info import unittest2 try: callable = callable except NameError: def callable(obj): return hasattr(obj, '__call__') with_available = sys.version_info[:2] >= (2, 5) def is_instance(obj, klass): """Version of is_instance that doesn't access __class__""" return issubclass(type(obj), klass) class SomeClass(object): class_attribute = None def wibble(self): pass class X(object): pass try: next = next except NameError: def next(obj): return obj.next()