gistfile1.txt

        # some actions to be performed on 
        actions = { 'k1' : lambda x : this.mangle(x), 
                    'k2' : lambda x : x.lowercase(),
                    'k3' : lambda x : x[0]
                   }



        for id in sorted(file.iterkeys()):
            action = actions.get(id)
            if action != None:
                print action[file[id]]()

        # input 
        file = { 'k1' : 'abc', 'k2' : 'DeF' , 'k3' : 'baz' }
        
        # prints:
        this.mangle('abc') # actually the value of this 
        def
        b