Mapping

Python provides one mapping type called dictionary. Dictionary is what I think of as a poor man's database, because it contains objects that can be indexed by keys. This is often referred to as the associated array or hashing table in other languages. If you have used any of the dictionary-like objects in other languages, you will know this is a powerful type, because you can refer to the object by a readable key. This key will make more sense for the poor guy who is trying to maintain the code, probably a few months after you wrote the code at 2 am in the morning. The object can also be another data type, such as a list. You can create a dictionary with curly braces:

    >>> datacenter1 = {'spines': ['r1', 'r2', 'r3', 'r4']}
    >>> datacenter1['leafs'] = ['l1', 'l2', 'l3', 'l4']
    >>> datacenter1
    {'leafs': ['l1', 'l2', 'l3', 'l4'], 'spines': ['r1',  
    'r2', 'r3', 'r4']}
    >>> datacenter1['spines']
    ['r1', 'r2', 'r3', 'r4']
    >>> datacenter1['leafs']
    ['l1', 'l2', 'l3', 'l4']