title: Simple way to convert a string to a dictionary
body: <p>What is the simplest way to convert a string of keyword=values to a dictionary, for example the following string:</p>
  
  <pre><code>name="John Smith", age=34, height=173.2, location="US", avatar=":,=)"
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>to the following python dictionary:</p>
  
  <pre><code>{'name':'John Smith', 'age':34, 'height':173.2, 'location':'US', 'avatar':':,=)'}
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The 'avatar' key is just to show that the strings can contain = and , so a simple 'split' won't do. Any ideas? Thanks!</p>