Trying to avoid self in Python is just no good idea. You just break one basic convention of Python just because you don't like one thing in Python.

I would recommend to the author of the article one of those things:

  (a) either find a programming language, where you like everything (I guess, unlikely)

  (b) or write your own programming language

After some years in the business, I have learnt, that every programming language has its own "hell".

Some hells are hotter, some are relatively mild. When you try to avoid every hell, you will end up writing your own programming language ... and be very lonely for the rest of your computer-life.

Pythons oddities are one of the mildest I have found yet, IMHO.