--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/light8/util.py	Wed Jul 03 09:37:57 2002 +0000
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+def maxes(dicts):
+    '''
+    ({'a' : 5, 'b' : 9}, {'a' : 10, 'b' : 943})
+    '''
+    newdict = {}
+    for d in dicts:
+        for k,v in d.items():
+            newdict[k] = max(v, newdict.get(k, 0))
+    return newdict
+
+def scaledict(d,scl):
+    # scales all values in dict and returns a new dict
+    return dict([(k,v*scl) for k,v in d.items()])
+    
+# class Setting that scales, maxes        
+
+def subsetdict(d, dkeys, default=0):
+    """Subset of dictionary d: only the keys in dkeys.  If you plan on omitting
+    keys, make sure you like the default."""
+    newd = {} # dirty variables!
+    for k in dkeys:
+        newd[k] = d.get(k, default)
+    return newd