Safe dictionary navigation

Always use the .get() method with appropriate default values when accessing dictionaries instead of direct key access with brackets. This prevents KeyError exceptions when keys don’t exist and provides predictable default values. For nested dictionaries, chain .get() calls with empty dictionaries as defaults for intermediate levels.

Example of problematic code:

# May raise KeyError if 'properties' or 'siteConfig' keys don't exist
if conf['properties']['siteConfig'] is not None:
    # process configuration

Improved version:

# Safely handles missing keys with default values
if conf.get('properties', {}).get('siteConfig') is not None:
    # process configuration

For collections that should be lists, provide an empty list as the default:

# Safe access for list-type values
for item in conf.get('items', []):
    # process each item

When type checking is necessary before access:

# Verify both existence and type
if conf.get('properties') and isinstance(conf.get('properties'), dict):
    # safely work with the dictionary value

Always verify that a value is the expected type before accessing its attributes or performing operations, especially after retrieving it with .get().