In a thread on python-ideas[1], Nick mentioned the idea of ``operator.by_symbol['+=']`` which would be an alternative method of getting the operator.iadd function.  The idea struck my fancy, so I implemented it (regardless of the very real possibility of being rejected anyway, judging by the current split vote in the thread :)).  

I also implemented Brett's suggestion of supporting '.attribute' and '[item]' as well.

Here's the (still a bit rough) patch.

[1] http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-ideas/2013-July/022078.html