You kids!! Nothing changes when 'speed' is of the essence

Yeah I agree with CTBram, call me old school but the reason the set editor is there is for that exact reason, having a script is a bit pretentious and is not always going to be an advantage when you need to do this type of work at a component level.

With a python command you will always need to have 'import maya cmds'

The set editor has been around since jesus, and its not going anywhere soon, I can tell you that

Jay