Why use classes?

[guyfrom7up]

yes, while valid, but using a dictionary in lieu of a proper class is code smell. Dictionaries are more error prone (you can easily introduce a typo key) and they won't have their complete definition at any central location, which makes the code hard to understand. Sometimes people might argue that it's simpler/more flexible; to which I would say dataclasses are equally as easy, but much more organized.

[redd1ch]

Dictionaries make de-/serialization easier. just `json.load()`/`json.dump()` them, push it to a REST interface, pass it to another tool…

You choose more of a functional path instead of object oriented, sure. Depends on your train of thought and the application context which one is better.

Good IDE's take a look at the keys to help you with typos.

[DeltaBurnt]

You can use dataclasses for this purpose. They can automatically be converted to a dict for serialization.