[Python-ideas] Add a dict with the attribute access capability

[Ivan Pozdeev]

I use argparse.Namespace whenever I need this.

In reply to Chris Barker's concern of "is this code or is this data", 
the last time I used it is when I needed to hold an external function 
reference in an object instance (if I assigned it to an attribute, it 
was converted into an instance method). It just didn't feel right to 
invoke it via a container lookup.

A telling name for the object also clears doubts about what it's 
supposed to hold.

On 29.11.2017 11:52, Serhiy Storchaka wrote:
> In 3.7 I have removed an old-deprecated plistlib.Dict. [1] Actually it 
> already was deprecated when the plistlib module was added to the 
> regular stdlib in Python 2.6.
>
> This is a dict subclass which allows to access items as attributes.
>
> d = plistlib.Dict()
> d['a'] = 1
> assert d.a == 1
> d.b = 2
> assert d['b'] == 2
>
> Raymond noticed that that capability seemed nice to have.
>
> What do you think about reviving this type as general purpose type in 
> collections or types? Perhaps it can be convenient for working with 
> JSON, plists, configuration files, databases and in other cases that 
> need a dict with string keys.
>
> If reintroduce it, there are open questions.
>
> 1. The name of the type.
>
> 2. The location of the type. collections or types? Or other variants?
>
> 3. How it will collaborate with OrderedDict, defaultdict, etc?
>
> 4. Should it be a dict subclass, or a mixin, or a proxy? Or add 
> several types?
>
>
> [1] https://bugs.python.org/issue29196
>
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-- 
Regards,
Ivan