>>> class testsetandget: kk = {}; def __getitem__(self, key): return self.kk[key]; def __setitem__(self, key, value): self.kk[key] = value; >>> a = testsetandget() >>> a['first'] = 1 >>> a['first'] 1 >>> a.__setitem__('second', 2) >>> a.__getitem__('second') 2 >>> a['second'] 2 >>>