associative array

[Gary Herron]

Javier Montoya wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> I'm a newbie in python and would be acknowledge if somebody could shed
> some light on associative arrays.
> More precisely, I would like to create a multi-dimensional associative
> array. I have for example a list of students which are identified
> uniquely by their student IDs. Additionally, for each student I have
> some information: FirstName, LastName, etc.
>
> The array would have then the following form:
> [StudentID] => [FirstName][LastName][Telephone]...[ ... ]
>
> I would like to be able to access a field directly by using a
> StudentID
> [StudentID][FirstName]
> [StudentID][LastName]
>
> How could I manipulate such an array (create the array, add elements,
> access data)?
>
> Best wishes
>
>
>   
Create a class for student with attributes for ID, FirstName, LastName, etc.

  class Student:
      def __init__(self, id, FirstName, ...):
          self.id = id
          self.FirstName = FirstName
          ...

then whenever you create a student object, use a dictionary to associate 
the object with its is
  AA = {} # An empty dictionary
  s = Student(...)
  AA[s.id] = s
  ... and repeat for many students...

Then to access a student's object given an id:
  s = AA[id]
  print s.id, s.FirstName, s.LastName, ...


I'd *not* call this a multi-dimension association, but rather just an 
association between student objects and their ids.

Hope that helps,

Gary Herron

-- 
Gary Herron, PhD.
Department of Computer Science
DigiPen Institute of Technology
(425) 895-4418