An "interesting" approach to dicts with dot notation

AppSettings.py

from typing import Union

import json


class AppSettings(dict):
    def __init__(self, settings_filename):
        self._settings_filename = settings_filename
        with open(settings_filename, "r") as settings_file:
            super().__init__(json.load(settings_file))

    def read(self, settings_filename=None):
        self.clear()
        settings_filename = settings_filename or self._settings_filename
        with open(settings_filename, "r") as settings_file:
            self.update(json.load(settings_file))

    def write(self, settings_filename=None):
        settings_filename = settings_filename or self._settings_filename
        with open(settings_filename, "w") as settings_file:
            json.dump(self, settings_file, indent=2)

    @classmethod
    def _get_path(cls, result: Union[dict, list], path: list, idx=0):
        if idx >= len(path):
            return result

        if type(result) is list:
            new_result = result[int(path[idx])]
        else:
            new_result = result[path[idx]]

        return cls._get_path(new_result, path, idx + 1)

    def get_path(self, path, default=None):
        path_split = path.split(".")
        try:
            return self._get_path(self, path_split)
        except:
            return default


    @classmethod
    def _set_path(cls, result: dict, path: list, value, idx=0):
        if idx >= len(path) - 1:
            result[path[idx]] = value
            return result

        try:
            new_result = result[path[idx]]
        except:
            result.setdefault(path[idx], {})
            new_result = result[path[idx]]

        return cls._set_path(new_result, path, value, idx + 1)

    def set_path(self, path, value):
        path_split = path.split(".")
        self._set_path(self, path_split, value)