classes vs dicts

[Yermat]

Larry Bates wrote:
> You will probably want a dictionary with keys to
> find people with classes stored to hold the information
> about the people.  That way you can extend the class
> easily without disrupting your data structures.
> 
> class person:
>     def __init__(self, lastname, firstname, initial):
>     self.lastname=lastname
>     self.firstname=firstname
>     self.initial=initial
>     return
> 
> #
> # Main Program
> #
> all_people={}
> 
> all_people['LarryABates']=person('Larry','Bates','A')
> all_people['SomeOPerson']=person('Some','Person','O')
 > [...]

Your all_people should also be a class then it can simplify stuff !

class PersonCollection:
	def __init__(self):
		self.all_people = {}

	def add(self, person):
		key = '%s%s%s' % (person.lastname,
						person.initial,
						person.firstname)
		self.all_people[key] = person

	def __getitem__(self, key):
		return self.all_people[key]

then you will just do :

all_people = PersonCollection()
all_people.add(person('Larry','Bates','A'))
all_people.add(person('Some','Person','O'))

But you will still be able to do :

all_people['SomeOPerson'].phone = "+44 3 54 65 85 96"

If Objet-Oriented languages were invented, there was a reason !

-- 
Yermat