[Python-Dev] d.get_key(key) -> key?

[Daniel 'eikeon' Krech]

While attempting to "intern" the nodes in our rdflib's triple store I have come across the following question.

Is there or could there be an efficient way to get an existing key from a dictionary given a key that is == but whose id is not. For example:

    given a==b and id(a)!=id(b) and d[a] = 1

what is the best way to:

    d.get_key(b) -> a

--eikeon, http://eikeon.com/


PS: Here is the code where I am trying to get rid of multiple instances of equivalent nodes:

    http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/redfoot/rdflib-1.0/rdflib/store/memory.py?rev=1.1.1.1&content-type=text/vnd.viewcvs-markup


and a not so efficient first attempt:

# (could use a s.get(e2)->e1 as well given e1==e2 and id(e1)!=id(e2))

class Set(object):
    def __init__(self):
        self.__set = []

    def add(self, obj):
        e = self.get(obj)
        if e: # already have equivalent element, so return the one we have
            return e
        else:
            self.__set.append(obj)
            return obj

    def get(self, obj):
        if obj in self.__set:
            for e in self.__set:
                if e==obj:
                    return e
        return None

class Intern(object):

    def __init__(self):
        super(Intern, self).__init__()
        self.__nodes = Set()
        
    def add(self, subject, predicate, object):
        subject = self.__nodes.add(subject)
        predicate = self.__nodes.add(predicate)
        object = self.__nodes.add(object)
        super(Intern, self).add(subject, predicate, object)