PoC for comparison of dict.items() as check that sub-dict is contained

gistfile1.txt

In [39]: a = {}

In [40]: for i in xrange(4):
    ...:     key = ''.join(random.sample(string.ascii_lowercase, 10))
    ...:     a[key] = key
    ...:

In [41]: a
Out[41]:
{'beuvqlcnyp': 'beuvqlcnyp',
 'ecnwgifjpu': 'ecnwgifjpu',
 'lhupednsvi': 'lhupednsvi',
 'mzogtjsqfn': 'mzogtjsqfn'}

In [42]: ai = a.items()

In [43]: b = a.copy()

In [44]: for i in xrange(100):
    ...:     key = ''.join(random.sample(string.ascii_lowercase, 10))
    ...:     b[key] = key
    ...:     if ai > b.items():
    ...:         print 'Whoops', len(b)
    ...:         break
    ...:
Whoops 22

In [45]: a.items() <= b.items()
Out[45]: False

In [46]: set(a) <= set(b)
Out[46]: True

In [47]: set(a.items()) <= set(b.items())
Out[47]: True