indexed property? Can it be done?

[Dan Sommers]

On Mon, 07 May 2012 20:15:36 -0700
Charles Hixson <charleshixsn at earthlink.net> wrote:

> class Node:
> 
>      def    __init__(self, nodeId, key, value, downRight, downLeft,
> parent): dirty    =    True
>          dlu    =    utcnow()
>          self.node    =    [nodeId, downLeft, [key], [value], 
> [downRight], parent, dirty, dlu]
> 
> Note that node[3] is a list of keys (initially 1) and node[3] is a
> list of values, etc.
> 
> What I'd like to do is to be able to address them thusly:
> k = node.key[2]
> v = node.value[2]
> but if there's a way to do this, I haven't been able to figure it
> out. Any suggestions?

Untested:

def __init__(self, nodeId, key, value, downRight, downLeft, parent):
    dirty = True
    dlu = utcnow()
    self.node = [nodeId, downLeft, dict(key=value),
                 [downRight], parent, dirty, dlu]

Now you can use self.node[2][key] to get/set value.

But why not make the elements of node their own attributes?

Untested:

def __init__(self, nodeId, key, value, downRight, downLeft, parent):
    self.dirty = True
    self.dlu = utcnow()
    self.nodeId = nodeId
    self.downLeft = downLeft
    self.downRight = downRight
    self.values = dict(key=value)
    self.parent = parent

And then you don't have to remember that node[2] is the key/value pairs
(note the typo (the two "3"s) in your original post).  With each
attribute in its own, well, attribute, you can always use
node.values[key] to access the value associated with a particular key.

HTH,
Dan