[Python-Dev] defaultdict proposal round three

[Steve Holden]

Greg Ewing wrote:
> Raymond Hettinger wrote:
> 
> 
>>Like "autodict" could mean anything.
> 
> 
> Everything is meaningless until you know something
> about it. If you'd never seen Python before,
> would you know what 'dict' meant?
> 
> If I were seeing "defaultdict" for the first time,
> I would need to look up the docs before I was
> confident I knew exactly what it did -- as I've
> mentioned before, my initial guess would have
> been wrong. The same procedure would lead me to
> an understanding of 'autodict' just as quickly.
> 
> Maybe 'autodict' isn't the best term either --
> I'm open to suggestions. But my instincts still
> tell me that 'defaultdict' is the best term
> for something *else* that we might want to add
> one day as well, so I'm just trying to make
> sure we don't squander it lightly.
> 
Given that the default entries behind the non-existent keys don't 
actually exist, something like "virtual_dict" might be appropriate.

Or "phantom_dict", or "ghost_dict".

I agree that the naming of things is important.

regards
  Steve
-- 
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