def test_1(val):
    print "val", val, type(val)

def test_2(val):
    print "val", val, type(2)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    for i in [1, 2]:
        eval("test_" + str(i))(i)
        

val 1 <type 'int'>
val 2 <type 'int'>

>>> x = 1
>>> y = 2
>>> print eval("x+y")
3

>>> a = "{'a':1, 'b':[1, 2, 3]}"
"{'a':1, 'b':[1, 2, 3]}"
>>> eval(a)
{'a': 1, 'b': [1, 2, 3]}

>>> print type(eval(a))
<type 'dict'>