Yeah it does. If you do: x = dd() print(x.tyypo.a.b) you'll get "DotDict()" The problem is that an object can't know whether you're getting a node th

Yeah it does. If you do: x = dd() print(x.tyypo.a.b) you'll get "DotDict()" The problem is that an object can't know whether you're getting a node that you're later going to assign a leaf to... or whether you're getting the node because you want to get the node. x = dd() x.a.b.c = "Foo" is equivalent to: x = dd() y = x.a.b y.c = "Foo" So "x.a.b" can't raise an exception. Now, it's python, so you can do unholy things to make pretty much anything work. But I think it would be ugly.