@@ -60,6 +60,8 @@ Repo
      related repositories, i.e. clones, git-rev-list would be sufficient to find 
      commits that would need to be transferred for example.
   - 'create' method which equals the 'init' method's functionality
+  - 'diff' - it returned a mere string which still had to be parsed
+  - 'commit_diff' - moved to Commit, Tree and Diff types respectively
 * Renamed the following methods:
   - commits to iter_commits to improve the performance, adjusted signature
   - init_bare to init, implying less about the options to be used
 
@@ -15,22 +15,12 @@ class Object(LazyMixin):
 	
 	This Object also serves as a constructor for instances of the correct type::
 	
-		inst = Object(repo,id)
+		inst = Object.new(repo,id)
 	"""
 	TYPES = ("blob", "tree", "commit", "tag")
 	__slots__ = ("repo", "id", "size", "data" )
 	type = None			# to be set by subclass
 
-	def __new__(cls, repo, id, *args, **kwargs):
-		if cls is Object:
-			hexsha, typename, size = repo.git.get_object_header(id)
-			obj_type = utils.get_object_type_by_name(typename)
-			inst = super(Object,cls).__new__(obj_type, repo, hexsha, *args, **kwargs)
-			inst.size = size
-			return inst
-		else:
-			return super(Object,cls).__new__(cls, repo, id, *args, **kwargs)
-	
 	def __init__(self, repo, id):
 		"""
 		Initialize an object by identifying it by its id. All keyword arguments
@@ -45,7 +35,25 @@ def __init__(self, repo, id):
 		super(Object,self).__init__()
 		self.repo = repo
 		self.id = id
-		
+
+	@classmethod
+	def new(cls, repo, id):
+		"""
+		Return
+			New Object instance of a type appropriate to the object type behind 
+			id. The id of the newly created object will be a hexsha even though 
+			the input id may have been a Reference or Rev-Spec
+			
+		Note
+			This cannot be a __new__ method as it would always call __init__
+			with the input id which is not necessarily a hexsha.
+		"""
+		hexsha, typename, size = repo.git.get_object_header(id)
+		obj_type = utils.get_object_type_by_name(typename)
+		inst = obj_type(repo, hexsha)
+		inst.size = size
+		return inst
+	
 	def _set_self_from_args_(self, args_dict):
 		"""
 		Initialize attributes on self from the given dict that was retrieved
 
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ def object(self):
 		"""
 		# have to be dynamic here as we may be a tag which can point to anything
 		# Our path will be resolved to the hexsha which will be used accordingly
-		return Object(self.repo, self.path)
+		return Object.new(self.repo, self.path)
 
 	@classmethod
 	def iter_items(cls, repo, common_path = "refs", **kwargs):
 
@@ -106,6 +106,15 @@ def heads(self):
 	# alias heads
 	branches = heads
 
+	@property
+	def head(self):
+		"""
+		Return
+			Head Object, reference pointing to the current head of the repository
+		"""
+		return Head(self,'HEAD')
+			
+
 	@property
 	def tags(self):
 		"""
@@ -129,7 +138,7 @@ def commit(self, rev=None):
 		if rev is None:
 			rev = self.active_branch
 
-		c = Object(self, rev)
+		c = Object.new(self, rev)
 		assert c.type == "commit", "Revision %s did not point to a commit, but to %s" % (rev, c)
 		return c
 
@@ -327,34 +336,7 @@ def active_branch(self):
 		"""
 		return Head( self, self.git.symbolic_ref('HEAD').strip() )
 
-		
-	def diff(self, a, b, *paths):
-		"""
-		The diff from commit ``a`` to commit ``b``, optionally restricted to the given file(s)
-
-		``a``
-			is the base commit
-		``b``
-			is the other commit
-
-		``paths``
-			is an optional list of file paths on which to restrict the diff
 
-		Returns
-			``str``
-		"""
-		return self.git.diff(a, b, '--', *paths)
-
-	def commit_diff(self, commit):
-		"""
-		The commit diff for the given commit
-		  ``commit`` is the commit name/id
-
-		Returns
-			``git.Diff[]``
-		"""
-		return Commit.diff(self, commit)
-		
 	def blame(self, rev, file):
 		"""
 		The blame information for the given file at the given revision.
 
@@ -90,3 +90,6 @@ def test_get_object_type_by_name(self):
 
 		assert_raises( ValueError, get_object_type_by_name, "doesntexist" )
 
+	def test_object_resolution(self):
+		# objects must be resolved to shas so they compare equal
+		assert self.repo.head.object == self.repo.active_branch.object
@@ -199,6 +199,9 @@ def test_active_branch(self, git):
 		assert_equal(self.repo.active_branch.name, 'major-refactoring')
 		assert_equal(git.call_args, (('symbolic_ref', 'HEAD'), {}))
 
+	def test_head(self):
+		assert self.repo.head.object == self.repo.active_branch.object
+		
 	@patch_object(Git, '_call_process')
 	def test_should_display_blame_information(self, git):
 		git.return_value = fixture('blame')