[Tutor] user-given variable names for objects

[Che M]

I'm sure this is a classic beginner's topic, and I've read a bit about it online already, but I'd like to ask about it here as well.  I want to assign names to objects based on what a user inputs so that I can later keep track of them. 

In particular, I want to time multiple events by getting each of their start times and later comparing them to their respective stop times--I don't want to user timers.  In order to do this, I need to give each start time a name associated with the name of the event.  If there is an "event A" it's start time could be eventA_start, whereas event B could be called eventB_start, i.e.:

eventA_start = datetime.datetime.now() 

The problem is, I don't know the "A" part...the user could choose eventPotato or eventDinosaur.  I won't know in advance.  I want the name chosen/inputted by the user to be attached to the name for the time that event started.

I have read that the way to do this properly in Python is with use of dictionaries, but I haven't found a reference online that shows how to do it is in a complete way.  Any help is appreciated.

_________________________________________________________________
Share life as it happens with the new Windows Live.
http://www.windowslive.com/share.html?ocid=TXT_TAGHM_Wave2_sharelife_122007
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.python.org/pipermail/tutor/attachments/20071212/a0dd2269/attachment.htm