gistfile1.py

>>> class Thing(object):
...     def __init__(self, name, description):
...         self.name = name
...         self.desc = description
... 
>>> b = Thing('box', 'empty')
>>> c = Thing('cat', 'fuzzy')
>>> collection = {'box': b, 'cat' : c}
>>> collection['box']
<__main__.Thing object at 0x1073a2150>
>>> print b
<__main__.Thing object at 0x1073a2150>
>>> b
<__main__.Thing object at 0x1073a2150>
>>> b.name
'box'
>>> b.desc
'empty'
>>> collection['box'].name
'box'
>>> collection['box'].desc
'empty'
>>> collection['box'] is b
True