Builtin dict should be callable, since a dict defines a function

[Erik Max Francis]

Bengt Richter wrote:

> I posted the suggestion in a thread  Re: case-insensitive and
> internationalized sort,
> but it occurs to me that the principle is arguable from the abstract
> point of view.
> I.e., a dict implements a function key -> value, so why not let it
> accept a normal
> function arg list (i.e., the tuple) as the argument for its key ->
> value function?
> It should be a pretty simple change to provide __call__(self, *args):
> return self[args]
> under the hood, and let hashability chips fall where they will via [].

But why would this be helpful?  A dictionary implements a mappable
interface; a function implements are callable interface.  They're
different interfaces; why would dovetailing them into the same interface
be beneficial?

It's a simple change, sure, but furthermore it's trivial enough for you
to implement it yourself in a subclass of dict.

-- 
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