Read an ArcGIS table into a dictionary.

arcpy-table-to-dict.py

#Source: http://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/54804/fastest-methods-for-modifying-attribute-tables-with-python
# fc - is the full path name to table or feature class

def make_attribute_dict(fc, key_field, attr_list=['*']):
    attdict = {}
    fc_field_objects = arcpy.ListFields(fc)
    fc_fields = [field.name for field in fc_field_objects if field.type != 'Geometry']
    if attr_list == ['*']:
        valid_fields = fc_fields
    else:
        valid_fields = [field for field in attr_list if field in fc_fields]
    #Ensure that key_field is always the first field in the field list
    cursor_fields = [key_field] + list(set(valid_fields) - set([key_field]))
    with arcpy.da.SearchCursor(fc, cursor_fields) as cursor:
        for row in cursor:
            attdict[row[0]] = dict(zip(cursor.fields,row))
    return attdict