Extend a data structure functionality on python

Question

So I have a dictionary on python:

structure = dict()

and I would like to know how I could achieve something like that:

structure.my_func(parameters);

Where my_func is my custom function.

So I in some way extend it's functionality, I knew we could do that in javascript with prototypes.

Is it possible on python? If yes, how?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

As stated in the comments, define a subclass of the python dict class:

class MyDict(dict):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()

    def my_method(self):
        # do what you want here

Answer 2

Python provides the collections.abc module to help a programmer to define a custom container. You should use collection.abc.Mapping for a read only container, or collection.abc.MutableMapping for a mutable one.

Depending on the use case, it can be simpler to inherit from those abstract base classes than directly from a true dict.