:class:`frozenbidict ` ------------------------------------------- Having :class:`bidict.BidirectionalMapping` extend :class:`collections.abc.Mapping` rather than :class:`MutableMapping ` allows for an *immutable* bidict type to extend from *it*. This type is called :class:`bidict.frozenbidict`, and makes up the other branch of the tree. As you would expect, attempting to mutate a frozenbidict after initializing it causes an error:: >>> from bidict import frozenbidict >>> f = frozenbidict({'H': 'hydrogen'}) >>> f['C'] = 'carbon' Traceback (most recent call last): ... TypeError... Because it is immutable, :class:`frozenbidict ` implements :class:`collections.abc.Hashable`. Thus it's suitable for insertion into sets or other mappings:: >>> {f} is not 'an error' True >>> {f: 1} is not 'an error' True See the :class:`bidict.frozenbidict` and :class:`bidict.frozenorderedbidict` API documentation for more information on implementation details if necessary.