simple question on dictionary usage

["Martin v. Löwis"]

>> egt = {}
>> for key in record:
>>    if key.startswith('E'):
>>        egt[key] = record[key]
> 
> I actually had come up with something like this, but thought it wasn't
> quite as pythonish as it should be.  It is certainly much more readable
> to a neophyte to python.

My recommendation: forget about the comprehension-based ones. It *is*
Pythonic to have the code readable to a neophyte; there is no price to
win for shortness or cuteness.

>> egt = dict((k, v) for k, v in record.iteritems() if k.startswith('E'))
> 
> This is what I was looking for.  I thought I had seen something simular
> to this in one of the tutorials I had read, but couldn't seem to find it.

And you consider this readable? I find it way too complex.

> Ah!  Now this is one solution I can get my teeth into.  If its not obvious,
> I'm a recovering perl programmer.

Ok, I now see why you can appreciate the comprehension-based one :-)

Again, much of Python's strength comes from it being readable. Simple
is better than complex, and sparse is better than dense, and readability
counts (import this).

Regards,
Martin