[Python-Dev] Proposal: defaultdict

[Bengt Richter]

On Sat, 18 Feb 2006 10:44:15 +0100 (CET), "=?iso-8859-1?Q?Walter_D=F6rwald?=" <walter at livinglogic.de> wrote:

>Guido van Rossum wrote:
>> On 2/17/06, Ian Bicking <ianb at colorstudy.com> wrote:
>>> Guido van Rossum wrote:
>>> > d =3D {}
>>> > d.default_factory =3D set
>>> > ...
>>> > d[key].add(value)
>>>
>>> Another option would be:
>>>
>>>    d =3D {}
>>>    d.default_factory =3D set
>>>    d.get_default(key).add(value)
>>>
>>> Unlike .setdefault, this would use a factory associated with the diction=
>ary, and no default value would get passed in.
>>> Unlike the proposal, this would not override __getitem__ (not overriding
>>> __getitem__ is really the only difference with the proposal).  It would =
>be clear reading the code that you were not
>>> implicitly asserting they "key in d" was true.
>>>
>>> "get_default" isn't the best name, but another name isn't jumping out at=
> me at the moment.  Of course, it is not a Pythonic
>>> argument to say that an existing method should be overridden, or functio=
>nality made nameless simply because we can't think
>>> of a name (looking to anonymous functions of course ;)
>>
>> I'm torn. While trying to implement this I came across some ugliness in P=
>yDict_GetItem() -- it would make sense if this also
>> called
>> on_missing(), but it must return a value without incrementing its
>> refcount, and isn't supposed to raise exceptions -- so what to do if on_m=
>issing() returns a value that's not inserted in the
>> dict?
>>
>> If the __getattr__()-like operation that supplies and inserts a
>> dynamic default was a separate method, we wouldn't have this problem.
>>
>> OTOH most reviewers here seem to appreciate on_missing() as a way to do v=
>arious other ways of alterning a dict's
>> __getitem__() behavior behind a caller's back -- perhaps it could even be=
> (ab)used to
>> implement case-insensitive lookup.
>
>I don't like the fact that on_missing()/default_factory can change the beha=
>viour of __getitem__, which upto now has been
>something simple and understandable.
>Why don't we put the on_missing()/default_factory functionality into get() =
>instead?
>
>d.get(key, default) does what it did before. d.get(key) invokes on_missing(=
>) (and dict would have default_factory =3D=3D type(None))
>
OTOH, I forgot why it was desirable in the first place to overload d[k]
with defaulting logic. E.g., why wouldn't d.defaulting[k] be ok to write
when you want the d.default_factory action?

on_missing feels more like a tracing hook though, so maybe it could always
act either way if defined.

Also, for those wanting to avoid lambda:42 as factory, would a callable test
cost a lot? Of course then the default_factory name might require revision.

Regards,
Bengt Richter