Tuples in Python: Operations, Definition & Examples

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Tuples in Python

Python tuples is a sequence used to store elements (a collection of data). Similar to arrays and lists, tuples also store elements based on their index and can be accessed based on the index position.

Understanding Python Tuples: A Core Datatype

Tuples are core data types in Python, alongside list, set, and dictionary. Tuples in Python are of type <class ‘tuple’>. One of the key features of tuples is that they are immutable objects in Python. This means we cannot perform add (append), update (change), or delete (remove) operations on tuple objects. The size of tuple objects cannot be increased or decreased because we cannot add or remove elements from the tuple.

Tuples in Python - Operations, Definition & Examples — **Tuples in Python – Operations, Definition & Examples**

Exploring Python Tuple Characteristics

Python Tuples are ordered, immutable, and can contain heterogeneous elements and duplicates. They are efficient for storing fixed collections of data. Here are some characteristics of tuple in Python.

Ordered: Tuples maintain the order of elements, meaning the elements will always appear in the same sequence they were added.
Immutable: Once a tuple is created, its contents cannot be changed. You cannot modify, add, or remove elements.
Allow Duplicates: Tuples can contain duplicate values, meaning the same element can appear multiple times in a tuple.
Heterogeneous Elements: Tuples can store items of different data types, such as integers, strings, and lists.
Supports Indexing, Slicing, and Iteration: You can access elements by index, slice tuples, and loop through them like other collections.
Memory Efficient: Due to their immutability, tuples use less memory compared to lists, making them more memory-efficient.
Single Element Tuple: To define a tuple with one element, you need to include a trailing comma.
Nested Tuples: Tuples can contain other tuples, allowing for nested structures.
Concatenation and Repetition: Tuples support concatenation (combining two tuples) and repetition (repeating elements in a tuple).

Tuple Operations in Python

Although tuple are immutable objects but we can create new tuple while performing add, update and delete operations on tuples. We have covered each operation that we can perform on tuple in Python in detail. Here is brief summary of of common tuple operations in Python.

Accessing Elements: You can access elements using their index. Example: shbytes_tuple[0]
Slicing: You can extract a part of the tuple using a range of indices. Example: shbytes_tuple[1:3]
Concatenation: You can combine two tuples using the + operator. Example: tuple_1 + tuple_2
Repetition: You can repeat a tuple using the * operator.Example: shbytes_tuple * 2
Membership Test: Check if an element exists in a tuple using in.Example: 5 in shbytes_tuple
Counting Elements: Use .count() to count occurrences of an element.Example: shbytes_tuple.count(2)
Finding Index: Use .index() to find the first index of an element.Example: shbytes_tuple.index(3)
Length: Use len() to get the number of elements.Example: len(shbytes_tuple)

Code snippets and programs related to Tuple operations in Python, can be accessed from GitHub Repository. This GitHub repository all contains programs related to other topics in Python tutorial.

Tuple vs List

Operation	Tuple	List
Mutability	Immutable. Once created, the elements of a tuple cannot be modified, added, or removed.	Mutable. You can modify, add, or remove elements in a list after it’s created.
Syntax	`shbytes_tuple = (1, 2, 3)`	`shbytes_list = [1, 2, 3]`
Performance	tuples are immutable, they are generally faster than lists for iteration and access. They also use less memory.	Lists are slower than tuples when it comes to performance, especially when dealing with large datasets.
Use Cases	Used when the data should not change. For example, storing fixed values like coordinates `(x, y, z)`, or as dictionary keys (because tuples are hashable).	used when the data may need to be changed, such as when managing collections that need to be modified, added to, or reordered.
Methods and Operations	Limited methods (e.g., `count()` and `index()`), as it is immutable	wide range of methods for manipulation like `append()`, `extend()`, `insert()`, `remove()`, `pop()`, etc.
Immutability and Hashing	Because tuples are immutable, they can be used as keys in dictionaries and sets.	Lists cannot be used as dictionary keys because they are mutable and not hashable.
Nested Structures	You can have nested tuples, but the immutability remains in effect for the tuple itself.	Lists can contain mutable objects, allowing for nested lists with varying degrees of modification.

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