Why is lambda allowed as a key in a dict?

[MRAB]

Daniel Fetchinson wrote:
> Python 2.5.1 (r251:54863, Oct 30 2007, 13:45:26)
> [GCC 4.1.2 20070925 (Red Hat 4.1.2-33)] on linux2
> Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>>> x = { }
>>>> x[lambda arg: arg] = 5
>>>> x[lambda arg: arg]
> Traceback (most recent call last):
>   File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
> KeyError: <function <lambda> at 0x2aaaaabaab18>
> 
> Is this a case of "we are all adults here"? I should only blame myself
> for making an unnamed function a dictionary key or should it be
> forbidden? Or am I missing something completely?
> 
lambda creates a function. Functions are hashable objects, so they can
be keys in a dict. But each time lambda is used it creates a new unique
function which isn't equal to any other function:

 >>> (lambda arg: arg) == (lambda arg: arg)
False

However:

 >>> x = {}
 >>> f = lambda arg: arg
 >>> x[f] = 5
 >>> x[f]
5