code: def items_to_params(self, items):
          
          params = {}
          for t,v in items:       
              try:
                  # try to evaluate parameter (float, int, list)
                  if v in ['grid', 'list']:
                      params[t] = v
                  else:
                      params[t] = eval(v)
                  if isinstance(params[t], ndarray):
                      params[t] = params[t].tolist()
              except (NameError, SyntaxError):
                  # otherwise assume string
                  params[t] = v
          return params
docs: evaluate the found items (strings) to become floats, ints or lists.