Tuples are immutable sequences typically used to store heterogeneous data. They are similar to Lists but aren’t the same. In this post, I wanna give you a quick intro in Tuples by explaining the differences to Lists.
myList = [1,2,3] myTuple = (1,2,3)
As you can see instead of square brackets [ ] we use parentheses ( ) to create a Tuple.
myList == myTuple # = False
Out[3]: False
myList[2] = 4
myTuple [2] = 4
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "", line 1, in
myTuple [2] = 4
TypeError: 'tuple' object does not support item assignment
myTuple = (1,4,3)
Although our List and Tuple have the same content, we can’t compare these two objects. Another insight is that values in a List are mutable whereas the values of a Tuple are immutable. To replace a value you have to redefine the Tuple.
Pack and unpack a Tuple
x = 12.23 y = 23.34 coordinate = (x,y) coordinate Out[8]: (12.23, 23.34) (c1, c2) = coordinate c1 Out[10]: 12.23 c2 Out[11]: 23.34
As you can see, Tuples can be useful if you save something meaningful and consistent which you want to protect like coordinates. Another benefit is that Tuples are faster than Lists. Especially when you want to iterate through it, use a Tuple instead of a List. (Sorry WordPress Gutenberg is not a big friend of programmers).