When are tuples preferred to lists in Python?

Asked by Last Modified  

Follow 1
Answer

Please enter your answer

B.Tech tutor for IIT JEE Mains and 12 board - Maths & Physics.

The first thing you need to decide is whether the data structure needs to be mutable or not. As has been mentioned, lists are mutable, tuples are not. This also means that tuples can be used for dictionary keys, wheres lists cannot. Tuples are fixed size in nature whereas lists are dynamic. In other...
read more
The first thing you need to decide is whether the data structure needs to be mutable or not. As has been mentioned, lists are mutable, tuples are not. This also means that tuples can be used for dictionary keys, wheres lists cannot. Tuples are fixed size in nature whereas lists are dynamic. In other words, a tuple is immutable whereas a list is mutable. You can't add elements to a tuple. Tuples have no append or extend method. You can't remove elements from a tuple. Tuples have no remove or pop method. You can find elements in a tuple, since this doesn’t change the tuple. You can also use the in operator to check if an element exists in the tuple. Tuples are faster than lists. If you're defining a constant set of values and all you're ever going to do with it is iterate through it, use a tuple instead of a list. It makes your code safer if you “write-protect” data that does not need to be changed. Using a tuple instead of a list is like having an implied assert statement that this data is constant, and that special thought (and a specific function) is required to override that. Some tuples can be used as dictionary keys (specifically, tuples that contain immutable values like strings, numbers, and other tuples). Lists can never be used as dictionary keys, because lists are not immutable. read less
Comments

Related Questions

What web framework is best to use with Python?
The best web frameworks to use with Python are **Django** for robust, full-featured applications and **Flask** for lightweight, flexible projects. Django is great for complex, scalable sites, while Flask...
Profile Photo
Dinesh
0 0
View Comments5
X=4 Y=X+4 Y=INT(STR(Y)+'2') PRINT(Y)
Here is how it works: 1. X takes the value of 4 2. Y takes the value of 8 ( Y=X+4 ) 3a. str(Y) is evaluated as '8' 3b. next, str(Y)+'2' is evaluated - this gives us '82' 3c. next, INT('82') gets...
Profile Photo
Annu
Is learning Python good or bad?
Its depend on your requirement, I mean if you are seeking for good opportunity to move from one Org. to another, or migrating some applications into your project, or your manager are eagerly requesting...
Profile Photo
Harish
0 0
View Comments7
What are the future career opportunities after Python certification courses?
You can go for many career paths depending upon your interest. The most prominent of them are as follows: Python developer for automation Data Analyst ETL developer Web-Application Developer Machine Learning Expert Data Scientist Data Engineer
Profile Photo
Rajnish

Now ask question in any of the 1000+ Categories, and get Answers from Tutors and Trainers on UrbanPro.com

Ask a Question

Related Lessons

map function in python
The function map takes a function and an iterable as arguments and returns a new iterable with the function applied to each argument. Example: def add_five(x): return x+5 nums = result = list(map(add_five,...
D

Deleted User

0 0
View Comments0

Multiple Decorators
#Multiple decorators can be chained in Python.#A function can be decorated multiple times with different (or same) decorators.#We simply place the decorators above the desired function. def star(func):...
Profile Photo

Getting started with Python IDLE
Now that we have looked at some example programs, we would like to learn how to begin the actual process of writing a program in Python. There are a variety of ways to tell Python to execute the code we...
Profile Photo

Arithmetic operators
Operation Syntax Function Addition a + b add(a, b) Subtraction a - b sub(a, b) Multiplication a * b mul(a, b) Division a / b truediv(a, b) Concatenation seq1...
Profile Photo

Recommended Articles

Python is one of the most popular programming languages in the world. It is general-purpose, object oriented, high-level programming language used in a number of programming fields. Python is a great programming language to learn as it will introduce you to the world of programming. If you are from the technical background...

Read full article >

Microsoft Excel is an electronic spreadsheet tool which is commonly used for financial and statistical data processing. It has been developed by Microsoft and forms a major component of the widely used Microsoft Office. From individual users to the top IT companies, Excel is used worldwide. Excel is one of the most important...

Read full article >

Software Development has been one of the most popular career trends since years. The reason behind this is the fact that software are being used almost everywhere today.  In all of our lives, from the morning’s alarm clock to the coffee maker, car, mobile phone, computer, ATM and in almost everything we use in our daily...

Read full article >

Business Process outsourcing (BPO) services can be considered as a kind of outsourcing which involves subletting of specific functions associated with any business to a third party service provider. BPO is usually administered as a cost-saving procedure for functions which an organization needs but does not rely upon to...

Read full article >

Looking for Python Training classes?

Learn from the Best Tutors on UrbanPro

Are you a Tutor or Training Institute?

Join UrbanPro Today to find students near you