This question is about implementing the full PERL autovivification in python. I know similary questions were asked before and so far the best answre is http://stackoverflow.com/questions/635483/what-is-the-best-way-to-implement-nested-dictionaries-in-python/652284#652284. However, I'm looking to do this:

a['x']['y'].append('z')

without declaring a['x']['y'] = [] first, or rather, not declaring a['x'] = {} either. I know dict and list classes sorta don't mix so this is hard, but I'm interested in seeing if someone has an ingenius solution probably involving creating an inherited class from dict but defined a new append method on it? I also know this might throw off some python purists who will ask me to stick with Perl. But even just for a challenge, I'd like to see something. thx!