title: Python - can text file data be stored in code?
body: <p>I'm writing a program that requires lots of Date lookups (Fiscal Year, Month, Week). To simplify the lookups I created a Dictionary where the Key is a date (used for the lookup) and the Value is a Class Object. I put the class def and the code to read the dates data (a .txt file) in separate file, not the main file. BTW, this is not a question about Date objects. 
  The code is: </p>
  
  <pre><code># filename: MYDATES
  class cMyDates:
      def __init__(self, myList):
          self.Week_Start  = myList[1]
          self.Week_End    = myList[2]
          self.Week_Num    = myList[3]
          self.Month_Num   = myList[4]
          self.Month       = myList[5]
          self.Year        = myList[6]
          self.Day_Num     = myList[7]
  
  d_Date = {} # &lt;-- this is the dictionary of Class Objects
  # open the file with all the Dates Data
  myDateFile = "myDates.log"
  f = open(myDateFile, "rb")
  # parse the Data and add it to the Dictionary
  for line in f:
      myList = line.replace(' ','').split(',')
      k = myList[0]
      val = cMarsDates(myList)
      d_Date[k] = val
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The actual dates data, from the text file, are just long strings separated by a comma: (also these strings are reduced in size for clarity, as-is the class def <strong>init</strong>)</p>
  
  <pre><code>2012-12-30, 2012-12-30, 2013-01-05, 1, 12, Dec, 2012, 30, Sun
  2012-12-31, 2012-12-30, 2013-01-05, 1, 12, Dec, 2012, 31, Mon
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>In my main program I import this data:</p>
  
  <pre><code>import MYDATES as myDate
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>From here I can access my dictionary object like this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>myDate.d_Date
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Everything works fine. My question: Is there a way to store this data inside the python code somehow, instead of in a separate text file? The program will always require this same information and it will never change. It's like a glorified static variable. I figured if I could keep this inside a .pyc file then perhaps it would run faster. Ok, before you jump on me about 'faster' or the amount of time it takes to read the external data and create the dictionary... It doesn't take long (about 0.00999 sec on average, I benchmarked it). The question is just for my edification - in case I need to do something like this again, but on a much larger scale where the time "might" matter.</p>
  
  <p>I thought of storing the dates data in an array (coming from VB thinking) or List (Python) and just feeding it to the dictionary object, but it seems as though you can only .append to a List instead of giving it a predetermined size. Then I thought about creating a dictionary, or dictionaries, but that just seemed overwhelming considering the amount of data I have and the fact I would have to read thru these dictionaries to create another dictionary of Class Objects. It didn't seem right.</p>
  
  <p>Can anybody suggest a different way to populate my dictionary of class objects besides storing the data in a separate text file and reading thru it in the code?</p>