Python Lists vs Tuples

Our focus here is the difference between Python lists and tuples. Often confused, due to their similarities, these two structures are substantially different.

A tuple is an assortment of data, separated by commas, which makes it similar to the Python list, but a tuple is fundamentally different in that a tuple is "immutable." This means that it cannot be changed, modified, or manipulated. A tuple is typically used specifically because of this property. A popular use for this is sequence unpacking, where we want to store returned data to some specified variables. Something like:

def example():
    return 15, 12

x, y = example()
print(x,y)

# in the above case, we have used a tuple and cannot modify it... and
# we definitely do not want to!

If you notice, the tuple had no brackets around it at all. If there are no encasing brackets or braces of any type, then Python will recognize the data as a tuple. Tuples also can have curved brackets like "(" or ")"

Next, we have the far more popular Python list. To define a list, we use square brackets. A Python list acts very much like an array in other languages like php.

Here's an example of a list and an example use:

x = [1,3,5,6,2,1,6]

'''
You can then reference the whole list like:
'''
print(x)

# or a single element by giving its index value.
# index values start at 0 and go up by 1 each time

print(x[0],x[1])

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