Huffman Coding in python

huffman_coding.py

from bisect import insort
from collections import deque

## to store codes for huffman coding
class CodeHeap():
    def __init__(self):
        self._container = deque([])

    def push(self, item):
        insort(self._container, item)  # in by sort

    def pop(self):
        return self._container.popleft()  # FIFO

    def __getitem__(self, item):
        return self._container[item]

    def __len__(self):
        return len(self._container)

    def __repr__(self):
        return repr(self._container)

def huffman_coding(symb2freq):
    """Huffman coding to encode symbols/sequences.
    It takes the Counter of Compressed object and
    returns a code dictionary based on occurences"""

    if len(symb2freq) == 1:
        symb, _ = symb2freq
        return {symb: '0'}

    symb_code_queue = CodeHeap()
    code_dict = {symbs: "" for symbs in symb2freq}

    for symbs, freq in symb2freq.items():
        symb_code_queue.push((freq, [symbs]))

    while len(symb_code_queue) > 1:
        low_freq, low_symbs = symb_code_queue.pop()
        high_freq, high_symbs = symb_code_queue.pop()

        for symb in low_symbs:
            code_dict[symb] = "0" + code_dict[symb]
        for symb in high_symbs:
            code_dict[symb] = "1" + code_dict[symb]

        symb_code_queue.push(
            (low_freq + high_freq,
             sorted(low_symbs + high_symbs)
             )
        )

    return code_dict