if you have a list, then use set
>>> stuff = [1,1,1,1,1,2,2,2,3,4,4,4,4,4,5,5,5,5,1,1,1,1,1]
>>> stuff_set = set(stuff)
>>> print stuff_set
set([1, 2, 3, 4, 5])
then count the set, if you then need code for frequencies, steal defs out of
http://resources.arcgis.com/gallery/file/geoprocessing/details?entryID=BDF21676-1422-2418-34E6-A29C6...
Bruce, interesting point, however, I will have to recheck my benchmarking since the repetitive calls to the searchcursor seemed to be worse than my approach (ie ...SearchCursor(someFC)] ), I will recheck in arcpy to see if there is a speed difference...in the interim, other may steal my code as they see fit. If you have any benchmarking/timing information I would appreciate an update