--- a/pylearn/dbdict/newstuff.py	Wed Dec 17 15:38:37 2008 -0500
+++ b/pylearn/dbdict/newstuff.py	Wed Dec 17 15:39:30 2008 -0500
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 ### misc
 ################################################################################
 
-class DD(defaultdict):
+class DD(dict):
     def __getattr__(self, attr):
         return self[attr]
     def __setattr__(self, attr, value):
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@
         return obj
 
 def flatten(obj):
+    """nested dictionary -> flat dictionary with '.' notation """
     d = {}
     def helper(d, prefix, obj):
         if isinstance(obj, (str, int, float)):
@@ -60,9 +61,10 @@
     return d
 
 def expand(d):
-    def dd():
-        return DD(dd)
-    struct = dd()
+    """inverse of flatten()"""
+    #def dd():
+        #return DD(dd)
+    struct = DD()
     for k, v in d.iteritems():
         if k == '':
             raise NotImplementedError()
@@ -70,7 +72,7 @@
             keys = k.split('.')
         current = struct
         for k2 in keys[:-1]:
-            current = current[k2]
+            current = current.setdefault(k2, DD())
         current[keys[-1]] = v #convert(v)
     return struct
 
@@ -157,15 +159,19 @@
 
 class Channel(object):
 
-    COMPLETE = None
-    INCOMPLETE = True
+    COMPLETE = property(lambda s:None,
+            doc=("Experiments should return this value to "
+                "indicate that they are done (if not done, return `Incomplete`"))
+    INCOMPLETE = property(lambda s:True,
+            doc=("Experiments should return this value to indicate that "
+            "they are not done (if done return `COMPLETE`)"))
     
-    START = 0
-    """dbdict.status == START means a experiment is ready to run"""
-    RUNNING = 1
-    """dbdict.status == RUNNING means a experiment is running on dbdict_hostname"""
-    DONE = 2
-    """dbdict.status == DONE means a experiment has completed (not necessarily successfully)"""
+    START = property(lambda s: 0,
+            doc="dbdict.status == START means a experiment is ready to run")
+    RUNNING = property(lambda s: 1,
+            doc="dbdict.status == RUNNING means a experiment is running on dbdict_hostname")
+    DONE = property(lambda s: 2,
+            doc="dbdict.status == DONE means a experiment has completed (not necessarily successfully)")
 
     # Methods to be used by the experiment to communicate with the channel
 
@@ -504,7 +510,7 @@
             lr=0.03
     """
     state = expand(parse(*strings))
-    state.dbdict.experiment = experiment
+    state.setdefault('dbdict', DD()).experiment = experiment
     experiment = resolve(experiment)
     workdir = options.workdir or format_d(state, sep=',', space = False)
     channel = StandardChannel(workdir,