newbie question convert C to python

[Steven Bethard]

Paul Rubin wrote:
> doodle4 at gmail.com writes:
> 
>>How do i handle this piece of code in python:
>>
>># define vZero 15
>># define vOne  20
>>
>>unsigned int vTable[Zero][One]
>>
>>if(vGroup[vZero][vOne] == 0)
>>    {
>>         vGroup[vZero][vOne]--
>>         .....
>>         .....
>>    }
> 
> Simplest might be with a dictionary:
> 
> vGroup = {}    # I assume you meant vGroup not vTable
> if vGroup[(vZero, vOne)] == 0:
>    vGroup[(vZero, vOne)] -= 1
>    .....
>    .....

Or, if you like, the parentheses are unnecessary:

vGroup = {}
if vGroup[vZero, vOne] == 0:
    vGroup[vZero, vOne] -= 1
    .....

This (or the semantically identical version with parentheses) is 
definitely the best approach if you expect to have a lot of empty spots 
in your table.

STeVe