Introduction¶
What is MappingTools?¶
This library provides utility functions for creating, manipulating, and transforming data structures, which have or include Mapping-like characteristics.
Includes inverting dictionaries, converting class-like objects to dictionaries, creating nested defaultdicts, and unwrapping complex objects.
Why use MappingTools?¶
Built for developers who need more than just standard dictionaries.
| Problem | Solution |
|---|---|
| Boilerplate Reduction | Use Dictifier to broadcast method calls to a collection of objects (users.greet() instead of a for loop). |
| Deep JSON Diffing | Use flatten() to collapse nested JSON into single-layer paths for easy comparison. |
| Data Collisions | Use inverse() to swap keys/values without losing data (automatically creates sets for duplicates). |
| Slow Config Loading | Use MeteredDict to profile exactly how many times your app reads specific config keys. |
| Quick Serialization | Use simplify() to instantly convert Dataclasses, DateTime, and custom objects into pure Dicts. |
| Complex Grouping | Use reshape() to pivot lists of dicts into N-dimensional nested dictionaries (tensors). |
| Key Remapping | Use rename() or rekey() to transform dictionary keys using functions or maps. |
| Multi-Dimensional Counting | Use CategoryCollector to aggregate data into multiple buckets simultaneously (e.g., by type AND by status). |
| Safe Deep Modification | Use Lens to immutably update nested values without cloning the entire structure manually. |