what is the right way to treat Python argparse.Namespace() as a dictionary?

Question

If I want to use the results of argparse.ArgumentParser(), which is a Namespace object, with a method that expects a dictionary or mapping-like obj

Answer 1

Is it proper to "reach into" an object and use its dict property?

In general, I would say "no". However Namespace has struck me as over-engineered, possibly from when classes couldn't inherit from built-in types.

On the other hand, Namespace does present a task-oriented approach to argparse, and I can't think of a situation that would call for grabbing the __dict__, but the limits of my imagination are not the same as yours.