Tuples and Named Tuples
Learn about the tuples and learn how to implement them.
We'll cover the following...
Overview
Tuples are objects that can store a specific number of other objects in sequence. They are immutable, meaning we can’t add, remove, or replace objects on the fly. This
may seem like a massive restriction, but the truth is, if we need to modify a tuple, we’re using the wrong data type (usually, a list would be more suitable). The primary benefit of tuples’ immutability is a tuple of immutable objects (like strings and numbers and other tuples) has a hash value, allowing us to use them as keys in dictionaries and members of a set.
Instances of Python’s built-in generic tuple class are used to store data; behavior cannot be associated with a built-in tuple. If we require behavior to manipulate a tuple, we have to pass the tuple into a function (or method on another object) that performs the action.
Tuples overlap with the idea of coordinates or dimensions. A mathematical (x, y) pair or (r, g, b) color are examples of tuples; the order matters a lot: the color (255, 0, 0) looks nothing like (0, 255, 0). The primary purpose of a tuple is to aggregate different pieces of data together into one container.
Creating tuples
We create a tuple by separating ...