History of Python: MRO
In languages that use multiple inheritance, the order in which base classes are searched when looking for a method is often called the Method Resolution Order, or MRO. (In Python this also applies to other attributes.) For languages that support single inheritance only, the MRO is uninteresting; but when multiple inheritance comes into play, the choice of an MRO algorithm can be remarkably subtle. Python has known at least three different MRO algorithms: classic, Python 2.2 new-style, and Python 2.3 new-style (a.k.a. C3). Only the latter survives in Python 3.
A historic article on the MRO in Python.

