Best way to turn a list into a dict, where the keys are a value of each object?

Question

I am attempting to take a list of objects, and turn that list into a dict. The dict values would be each object in the list, and the dict keys would be a value found in each object.

Here is some code representing what im doing:

class SomeClass(object):

    def __init__(self, name):
        self.name = name

object_list = [
    SomeClass(name='a'),
    SomeClass(name='b'),
    SomeClass(name='c'),
    SomeClass(name='d'),
    SomeClass(name='e'),
]

object_dict = {}
for an_object in object_list:
    object_dict[an_object.name] = an_object

Now that code works, but its a bit ugly, and a bit slow. Could anyone give an example of something thats faster/"better"?

edit: Alright, thanks for the replies. I must say i am surprised to see the more pythonic ways seeming slower than the hand made way.

edit2: Alright, i updated the test code to make it a bit more readable, with so many tests heh.

Here is where we are at in terms of code, i put authors in the code and if i messed any up please let me know.

from itertools import izip
import timeit

class SomeClass(object):

    def __init__(self, name):
        self.name = name

object_list = []

for i in range(5):
    object_list.append(SomeClass(name=i))

def example_1():
    'Original Code'
    object_dict = {}
    for an_object in object_list:
        object_dict[an_object.name] = an_object

def example_2():
    'Provided by hyperboreean'
    d = dict(zip([o.name for o in object_list], object_list))

def example_3():
    'Provided by Jason Baker'
    d = dict([(an_object.name, an_object) for an_object in object_list])

def example_4():
    "Added izip to hyperboreean's code, suggested by Chris Cameron"
    d = dict(izip([o.name for o in object_list], object_list))

def example_5():
    'zip, improved by John Fouhy'
    d = dict(zip((o.name for o in object_list), object_list))

def example_6():
    'izip, improved by John Fouhy'
    d = dict(izip((o.name for o in object_list), object_list))

def example_7():
    'Provided by Jason Baker, removed brackets by John Fouhy'
    d = dict((an_object.name, an_object) for an_object in object_list)

timeits = []
for example_index in range(1, 8):
    timeits.append(
        timeit.Timer(
            'example_%s()' % example_index,
            'from __main__ import example_%s' % example_index)
    )

for i in range(7):
    timeit_object = timeits[i]
    print 'Example #%s Result: "%s"' % (i+1, timeit_object.repeat(2))

With 5 objects in the list i am getting a result of:

    Example #1 Result: "[1.2428441047668457, 1.2431108951568604]"
    Example #2 Result: "[3.3567759990692139, 3.3188660144805908]"
    Example #3 Result: "[2.8346641063690186, 2.8344728946685791]"
    Example #4 Result: "[3.0710639953613281, 3.0573830604553223]"
    Example #5 Result: "[5.2079918384552002, 5.2170760631561279]"
    Example #6 Result: "[3.240635871887207, 3.2402129173278809]"
    Example #7 Result: "[3.0856869220733643, 3.0688989162445068]"

and with 50:

    Example #1 Result: "[9.8108220100402832, 9.9066231250762939]"
    Example #2 Result: "[16.365023136138916, 16.213981151580811]"
    Example #3 Result: "[15.77024507522583, 15.771029949188232]"
    Example #4 Result: "[14.598290920257568, 14.591825008392334]"
    Example #5 Result: "[20.644147872924805, 20.64064884185791]"
    Example #6 Result: "[15.210831165313721, 15.212569952011108]"
    Example #7 Result: "[17.317100048065186, 17.359367847442627]"

And lastly, with 500 objects:

    Example #1 Result: "[96.682723999023438, 96.678673028945923]"
    Example #2 Result: "[137.49416589736938, 137.48705387115479]"
    Example #3 Result: "[136.58069896697998, 136.5823769569397]"
    Example #4 Result: "[115.0344090461731, 115.1088011264801]"
    Example #5 Result: "[165.08325910568237, 165.06769108772278]"
    Example #6 Result: "[128.95187497138977, 128.96077489852905]"
    Example #7 Result: "[155.70515990257263, 155.74126601219177]"

Thanks to all that replied! Im very surprised with the result. If there are any other tips for a faster method i would love to hear them. Thanks all!

Answer 1

In python 3.0 you can use a dict comprehension:

{an_object.name : an_object for an_object in object_list}

This is also possible in Python 2, but it's a bit uglier:

dict([(an_object.name, an_object) for an_object in object_list])

Answer 2

d = dict(zip([o.name for o in object_list], object_list))