>>> from collections import defaultdict
>>> def modes(values):
count = defaultdict(int)
for v in values:
count[v] +=1
best = max(count.values())
return [k for k,v in count.items() if v == best]
>>> modes([1,3,6,6,6,6,7,7,12,12,17])
[6]
>>> modes((1,1,2,4,4))
[1, 4]