Lists & "pointers"

[Jan Danielsson]

Hello all,

I have written a simple whiteboard application. In my application, I
want to be able to set draw attributes. This part works. I have a
dictionary object which contains stuff like:
self.attr['Pen.Color'] = ...
self.attr['Pen.Thickness'] = ...

Now, the problem is that I want to be able to store attributes in a
list so they'll be easily accessed using the function keys. I.e. I have
the "current attributes" which I want to be able to store or retrieve
in/from a list,

The problem is that I have initialized the list like this:

self.drawAttr = { blah, blah, blah.. }
self.storedAttr = [ ]
for i in range(0, 10):
self.storedAttr.append(self.drawAttr)

I know what the problem is; they are all referencing the *same*
dictionary object. So, my question is: How do I initialize a list of
dictionary objects, where each list entry is its own object (which is a
copy from the self.drawAttr object).

Also, how do I store/restore entries to the list?

I have found the "copy" module, and it's copy method. I assume this
would work:

for i in range(0, 10):
self.storedAttr.append(copy.copy(self.drawAttr))

However, the concept of "deep copy" confuses me. Do I want it, or
don't I want it? I repeat: the attributes object is a simple dictionary.

Thankful for any advice.

 

[rixil]

Hello all,

I have written a simple whiteboard application. In my application, I
want to be able to set draw attributes. This part works. I have a
dictionary object which contains stuff like:
self.attr['Pen.Color'] = ...
self.attr['Pen.Thickness'] = ...

Now, the problem is that I want to be able to store attributes in a
list so they'll be easily accessed using the function keys. I.e. I have
the "current attributes" which I want to be able to store or retrieve
in/from a list,

The problem is that I have initialized the list like this:

self.drawAttr = { blah, blah, blah.. }
self.storedAttr = [ ]
for i in range(0, 10):
self.storedAttr.append(self.drawAttr)

I know what the problem is; they are all referencing the *same*
dictionary object. So, my question is: How do I initialize a list of
dictionary objects, where each list entry is its own object (which is a
copy from the self.drawAttr object).

Also, how do I store/restore entries to the list?

I have found the "copy" module, and it's copy method. I assume this
would work:

for i in range(0, 10):
self.storedAttr.append(copy.copy(self.drawAttr))

However, the concept of "deep copy" confuses me. Do I want it, or
don't I want it? I repeat: the attributes object is a simple dictionary.

Thankful for any advice.

The easiest way to do it would be to create a new dictionary object for
each iteration of your loop. In this scenario, you would not need to
use the copy module.

In other words:

self.storedAttr = [ ]
for i in range(0, 10):
self.storedAttr.append({ blah, blah, blah.. })

I hope this helps!

Regards,

Michael Loritsch

 

[George Sakkis]

Hello all,

I have written a simple whiteboard application. In my application, I
want to be able to set draw attributes. This part works. I have a
dictionary object which contains stuff like:
self.attr['Pen.Color'] = ...
self.attr['Pen.Thickness'] = ...

Now, the problem is that I want to be able to store attributes in a
list so they'll be easily accessed using the function keys. I.e. I have
the "current attributes" which I want to be able to store or retrieve
in/from a list,

The problem is that I have initialized the list like this:

self.drawAttr = { blah, blah, blah.. }
self.storedAttr = [ ]
for i in range(0, 10):
self.storedAttr.append(self.drawAttr)

I know what the problem is; they are all referencing the *same*
dictionary object. So, my question is: How do I initialize a list of
dictionary objects, where each list entry is its own object (which is a
copy from the self.drawAttr object).

Also, how do I store/restore entries to the list?

I have found the "copy" module, and it's copy method. I assume this
would work:

for i in range(0, 10):
self.storedAttr.append(copy.copy(self.drawAttr))

However, the concept of "deep copy" confuses me. Do I want it, or
don't I want it? I repeat: the attributes object is a simple dictionary.

Thankful for any advice.

The easiest way to do it would be to create a new dictionary object for
each iteration of your loop. In this scenario, you would not need to
use the copy module.

In other words:

self.storedAttr = [ ]
for i in range(0, 10):
self.storedAttr.append({ blah, blah, blah.. })

And this would be equivalent to shallow copy. Whether you need a deep copy depends on what each
"blah" is. More specifically it depends on whether the values of the dictionary are mutable or not
(the keys are known to be immutable anyway). If they are immutable, a shallow copy is enough. If
not, check whether all dictionaries refer to the same values or separate copies of the values. Only
in the latter case you need deep copy.

HTH,

George

 

[Kay Schluehr]

Hello all,

I have written a simple whiteboard application. In my application, I
want to be able to set draw attributes. This part works. I have a
dictionary object which contains stuff like:
self.attr['Pen.Color'] = ...
self.attr['Pen.Thickness'] = ...

Now, the problem is that I want to be able to store attributes in a
list so they'll be easily accessed using the function keys. I.e. I have
the "current attributes" which I want to be able to store or retrieve
in/from a list,

The problem is that I have initialized the list like this:

self.drawAttr = { blah, blah, blah.. }
self.storedAttr = [ ]
for i in range(0, 10):
self.storedAttr.append(self.drawAttr)

I know what the problem is; they are all referencing the *same*
dictionary object. So, my question is: How do I initialize a list of
dictionary objects, where each list entry is its own object (which is a
copy from the self.drawAttr object).

Hi Jan son of Daniel,

you might initialize self.storedAttr with empty dicts and fill them
later:

self.soredAttr = [{}]*10
for entry in self.storedAttr:
entry.update(self.drawAttr)

Also, how do I store/restore entries to the list?

I have found the "copy" module, and it's copy method. I assume this
would work:

for i in range(0, 10):
self.storedAttr.append(copy.copy(self.drawAttr))

However, the concept of "deep copy" confuses me. Do I want it, or
don't I want it? I repeat: the attributes object is a simple dictionary.

Thankful for any advice.

A *shallow copy* creates a new dictionary and copies the references, a
*deep copy* tries to create a new reference for each existing object in
the dict. The disadvantage of deepcopy is that it does not work in many
cases:

copy.deepcopy([lambda :None])

Traceback (most recent call last):
....
TypeError: function() takes at least 2 arguments (0 given)

As the docs tell:

"This version does not copy types like module, class, function, method,
stack trace, stack frame, file, socket, window, array, or any similar
types."

I wonder if one couldn't pickle a module and reimport it in order to
create a copy of it

IMO this is a weakness of the algorithm. One usually doesn't want to
duplicate a function so that a new reference of a function is not
needed because it is readonly and the algorithm could reuse the same
reference. For classes I don't if the assertion in the docs is actually
true?
.... def __init__(self)ass
....
Regards,
Kay

 

[Guest]

you might initialize self.storedAttr with empty dicts and fill them
later:

self.soredAttr = [{}]*10
for entry in self.storedAttr:
entry.update(self.drawAttr)

As a matter of fact, you're doing the same ;-)

In [1]: x = [{}] * 10

In [2]: x[0]['a'] = 1

In [3]: x[1]['b'] = 2

In [4]: x
Out[4]:
[{'a': 1, 'b': 2},
{'a': 1, 'b': 2},
{'a': 1, 'b': 2},
{'a': 1, 'b': 2},
{'a': 1, 'b': 2},
{'a': 1, 'b': 2},
{'a': 1, 'b': 2},
{'a': 1, 'b': 2},
{'a': 1, 'b': 2},
{'a': 1, 'b': 2}]

nd

 

[Steven D'Aprano]

The problem is that I have initialized the list like this:

self.drawAttr = { blah, blah, blah.. }
self.storedAttr = [ ]
for i in range(0, 10):
self.storedAttr.append(self.drawAttr)

I know what the problem is; they are all referencing the *same*
dictionary object. So, my question is: How do I initialize a list of
dictionary objects, where each list entry is its own object (which is a
copy from the self.drawAttr object).

self.drawAttr = { blah, blah, blah.. }
self.storedAttr = [ ]
for i in range(0, 10):
self.storedAttr.append(self.drawAttr.copy())

You only need to worry about the difference between copy and deepcopy if
the objects inside the dict are complex objects like dicts and lists.

You also said that: "I want to be able to store attributes in a list so
they'll be easily accessed using the function keys."

I don't think this is good usage. What happens when you change the
attributes in one place but forget to change it in the other?

A better solution would be to set up either a list or a mapping from
function key to attribute, rather than to a COPY of the attribute. Why
change things in two places rather than one?

Something like this:

# set up attributes before hand
self.attr['Pen.Color'] = 'blue'
self.attr['Pen.Thickness'] = 1
self.attr['Pen.State'] = 'down'
# etc
# now point the function keys to attributes
self.functionkeys = {'F1' = 'Pen.Color', 'F2' = 'Pen.Thickness',
'F3' = 'Pen.State', ... }

Then, when you want to access the current value of some attribute, instead
of looking up a list:

# bad way
def get_attribute(fkey):
if fkey = 'F1':
return self.storedAttr[0]
elif fkey = 'F2':
return self.storedAttr[1]
...
elif fkey = 'F12':
return self.storedAttr[11]

you would do something like this:

# good way
def get_attribute(fkey):
return self.attr[self.functionkeys[fkey]]

Also, how do I store/restore entries to the list?

That question is awfully open-ended. Can you be more specific?

I have found the "copy" module, and it's copy method. I assume this
would work:

for i in range(0, 10):
self.storedAttr.append(copy.copy(self.drawAttr))

However, the concept of "deep copy" confuses me. Do I want it, or
don't I want it? I repeat: the attributes object is a simple dictionary.

That depends on what is inside your simple dictionary. For immutable
objects like ints, floats and strings, copy is sufficient:

D1 = {1: 'hello', 2: 'there'}
D1 {1: 'hello', 2: 'there'}
D2 = D1.copy()
D1[1] = 'go'
D1 {1: 'go', 2: 'there'}
D2

{1: 'hello', 2: 'there'}

See what happens when the values are mutable objects:

DM1 = {1: [0,1], 2: [4, 5]}
DM2 = DM1.copy()
DM1[3] = [0,2]
DM1 {1: [0, 1], 2: [4, 5], 3: [0, 2]}
DM2

{1: [0, 1], 2: [4, 5]}

So far so good. But now look:

DM1[1].append(999)
DM1 {1: [0, 1, 999], 2: [4, 5], 3: [0, 2]}
DM2

{1: [0, 1, 999], 2: [4, 5]}

The difference is that although copy makes a copy of the top level of the
dict, it DOESN'T make copies of the individual objects within the dict.

This doesn't matter is the objects are immutable, but if they are lists or
other dicts, you can get surprises like the above.