In [10]: import random In [11]: from collections import defaultdict In [12]: d = defaultdict(lambda: random.random()) In [13]: d['a'] Out[13]: 0.8680511728147858 In [14]: d['b'] Out[14]: 0.1019257362096414 In [15]: d['c'] Out[15]: 0.27965160383899557 In [16]: d['a'] Out[16]: 0.8680511728147858 In [17]: d['b'] Out[17]: 0.1019257362096414 In [18]: d['b'] = 1.0 In [19]: d['b'] Out[19]: 1.0