Merging Dictionaries in Python | Dataford Interview Questions

Macy's catalog pipelines may need to combine two dictionaries of product attributes, such as base details and updated merchandising values. Write a function that merges two dictionaries without modifying either input.

If both dictionaries contain the same key, the value from the second dictionary must override the value from the first. The result should be a new shallow dictionary containing every key from both inputs.

Formal Specification

Implement merge_catalog_attributes(first, second):

Input: Two Python dictionaries, first and second. Keys are strings, and values may be any Python value.
Output: A new dictionary containing the union of both sets of keys.
Duplicate keys use the value from second.
Neither input dictionary may be modified.

Constraints

0 <= len(first), len(second) <= 10^4
Keys are strings
Values may be any Python value
Neither input dictionary may be modified
The merge is shallow

Function Signature

def merge_catalog_attributes(first, second):

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