[python] defaultdict

normal dict raises Keyerror after querying keys that don't exist

>>> from collections import defaultdict
>>> my_dict = {"one": 1, "two": 2}
>>> my_dict["three"]
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
KeyError: 'three'

but by using a lamda in a deafultdict we can set default values for undefined keys

# create a default dict, from a dict
>>> my_def_dict = defaultdict(lambda: -1, my_dict)
>>> my_def_dict["zero"]
-1

# create an empty default dict
>>> empty_def_dict = defaultdict(lambda: true)
# add key-value pairs here