variable hell

[Robert Kern]

Ron Garret wrote:

> If you really want to make something like this work you can define a 
> class that would work like this:
> 
> vars = funkyclass()
> varname = 'x'
> vars[varname] = value
> vars.x
> 
> But this is clearly a design mistake.  Either you know the names of the 
> variables when you write the code or you do not.  If you know them you 
> can simply assign them directly.  If you do not know them then you can't 
> put them in the code to read their values anyway, and what you need is 
> just a regular dictionary.

In fact, I do this all of the time.

  class Bunch(dict):
    def __init__(self, *args, **kwds):
      dict.__init__(self, *args, **kwds)
      self.__dict__ = self

It's a lifesaver when you're working at the interactive prompt. In the
bowels of my modules, I may not know what the contents are at code-time,
but at the prompt I probably do. Bunch assists both usages.

-- 
Robert Kern
rkern at ucsd.edu

"In the fields of hell where the grass grows high
 Are the graves of dreams allowed to die."
  -- Richard Harter