python - Class factory to produce simple struct-like classes?

Question

While investigating Ruby I came across this to create a simple Struct-like class:

Person = Struct.new(:forname, :surname)
person1 = Person.new('John', 'Doe')
puts person1  #<struct Person forname="John", surname="Doe">

Which raised a few Python questions for me. I have written a [VERY] basic clone of this mechanism in Python:

def Struct(*args):
    class NewStruct:
        def __init__(self):
            for arg in args:
                self.__dict__[arg] = None

    return NewStruct

>>> Person = Struct('forename', 'surname')
>>> person1 = Person()
>>> person2 = Person()
>>> person1.forename, person1.surname = 'John','Doe'
>>> person2.forename, person2.surname = 'Foo','Bar'
>>> person1.forename
'John'
>>> person2.forename
'Foo'

1. Is there already a similar mechanism in Python to handle this? (I usually just use dictionaries).

2. How would I get the Struct() function to create the correct __init__() arguments. (in this case I would like to perform person1 = Person('John', 'Doe') Named Arguments if possible: person1 = Person(surname='Doe', forename='John')

I Would like, as a matter of interest, to have Question 2 answered even if there is a better Python mechanism to do this.

Answer 1

If you're using Python 2.6, try the standard library namedtuple class.

>>> from collections import namedtuple
>>> Person = namedtuple('Person', ('forename', 'surname'))
>>> person1 = Person('John', 'Doe')
>>> person2 = Person(forename='Adam', surname='Monroe')
>>> person1.forename
'John'
>>> person2.surname
'Monroe'

Edit: As per comments, there is a backport for earlier versions of Python