Question

In Python, what is the more efficient way of using types as dictionary keys? Given a classObject, should I use classObject.__name__ or the object itself directly?

Answer 1

Since type names don’t have to be unique across modules, you must use the type (classObject) itself.

Luckily, types will automatically have a non-trivial hash value:

>>> class A(object): pass
>>> class B(object): pass
>>> hash(A)
2579460
>>> hash(B)
2579600