Miscellany

>>> cryptotext="""
... g fmnc wms bgblr rpylqjyrc gr zw fylb. rfyrq ufyr amknsrcpq ypc dmp. bmgle gr gl zw fylb gq glcddgagclr ylb rfyr'q ufw rfgq rcvr gq qm jmle. sqgle qrpgle.kyicrpylq() gq pcamkkclbcb. lmu ynnjw ml rfc spj.
... """
>>> 
>>> a = {}
>>> a.get ('a', 1)
1
>>> a.get ('a')
>>> a['a'] = 2
>>> a.get ('a', 1)
2
>>> a.get ('a')
2
>>> letters = {}
>>> letters = filter (lambda x: x in 'a'..'z', cryptotext)
  File "<stdin>", line 1
    letters = filter (lambda x: x in 'a'..'z', cryptotext)
                                         ^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
>>> range ('a', 'z')
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: range() integer start argument expected, got str.
>>> ord(a)..ord(z)
  File "<stdin>", line 1
    ord(a)..ord(z)
           ^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
>>> letters = filter (lambda x: ord(x) in range (ord('a'), ord('z')), cryptotext)
>>> letters
'gfmncwmsbgblrrpylqjyrcgrwfylbrfyrqufyramknsrcpqypcdmpbmglegrglwfylbgqglcddgagclrylbrfyrqufwrfgqrcvrgqqmjmlesqgleqrpglekyicrpylqgqpcamkkclbcblmuynnjwmlrfcspj'
>>> freq = {}
>>> map (lambda x: freq.put (x, freq.get (x, 0) + 1), letters)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <lambda>
AttributeError: 'dict' object has no attribute 'put'
>>> dir ({})
['__class__', '__cmp__', '__contains__', '__delattr__', '__delitem__', '__doc__', '__eq__', '__ge__', '__getattribute__', '__getitem__', '__gt__', '__hash__', '__init__', '__iter__', '__le__', '__len__', '__lt__', '__ne__', '__new__', '__reduce__', '__reduce_ex__', '__repr__', '__setattr__', '__setitem__', '__str__', 'clear', 'copy', 'fromkeys', 'get', 'has_key', 'items', 'iteritems', 'iterkeys', 'itervalues', 'keys', 'pop', 'popitem', 'setdefault', 'update', 'values']
>>> map (lambda x: freq[x] = freq.get (x, 0) + 1, letters)
  File "<stdin>", line 1
SyntaxError: lambda cannot contain assignment
>>> map (lambda x: freq.update (x, freq.get (x, 0) + 1), letters)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <lambda>
TypeError: update expected at most 1 arguments, got 2
>>> map (lambda x: freq.__setitem__ (x, freq.get (x, 0) + 1), letters)
[None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None, None]
>>> freq
{'a': 3, 'c': 12, 'b': 8, 'e': 4, 'd': 3, 'g': 15, 'f': 9, 'i': 1, 'k': 4, 'j': 4, 'm': 10, 'l': 16, 'n': 4, 'q': 12, 'p': 8, 's': 4, 'r': 18, 'u': 3, 'w': 5, 'v': 1, 'y': 12}