Python's iterable unpacking is what Lispers might call a destructuring bind. py> iterable = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 py> a, b, *rest = iterable py> a, b, rest (1, 2, (3, 4, 5)) Clojure also supports mapping destructuring. Let's add that to Python! py> mapping = {"a": 1, "b": 2, "c": 3} py> {"a": x, "b": y, "c": z} = mapping py> x, y, z (1, 2, 3) py> {"a": x, "b": y} = mapping Traceback: ValueError: too many keys to unpack This will be approximately as helpful as iterable unpacking was before PEP 3132 (https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-3132/). I hope to keep discussion in this thread focused on the most basic form of dict unpacking, but we could extended mapping unpacking similarly to how PEP 3132 extended iterable unpacking. Just brainstorming... py> mapping = {"a": 1, "b": 2, "c": 3} py> {"a": x, **rest} = mapping py> x, rest (1, {"b": 2, "c": 3})