You see that self in the parameters? You know
    what that is? That’s right, it’s the “extra”
    parameter that Python creates so you can type
    a.some_function() and then it will translate
    that to really be some_function(a).

    Why use self? Your function has no idea what 
    you are calling any one “instance” of 
    TheThing or another, so you just use a generic
    name self that way you can write your 
    function and it will always work.

This seems to imply that the dot notation is an alternative notation. Is it possible to use Python without the dot notation?