CHAPTER 2: DATA STRUCTURES IN PYTHON

Introduc on

Data Structures are used to store and organize data efficiently.

Python provides several built-in data structures. The most commonly used are:

1. List

2. Tuple

3. Dic onary

Each data structure has different features and is used for different purposes.

1. LIST

What is a List?

A List is a collec on of mul ple items stored in a single variable.

Lists are:

 Ordered

 Mutable (can be modified)

 Allow duplicate values

 Can store different data types

Example

students = ["Arun", "Priya", "Kavin"]

Here:

 students → list name

 Arun, Priya, Kavin → list elements

Crea ng a List

Empty List

my_list = []

List with Values

numbers = [10, 20, 30, 40]

Mixed Data Types

data = ["Arun", 21, 85.5, True]

Lists use indexing.

Posi ve Indexing

students = ["Arun", "Priya", "Kavin"]

print(students[0])

Output:

Arun

Nega ve Indexing

print(students[-1])

Output:

Kavin

List Slicing

Syntax:

list[start:end]

Example:

numbers = [10,20,30,40,50]

print(numbers[1:4])

Output:

[20, 30, 40]

Upda ng List Elements

students = ["Arun", "Priya", "Kavin"]

students[1] = "Divya"
print(students)

Output:

['Arun', 'Divya', 'Kavin']

Adding Elements

append()

Adds an item at the end.

[Link]("Rahul")

Output:

['Arun', 'Priya', 'Kavin', 'Rahul']

insert()

Adds an item at a specific posi on.

[Link](1, "Divya")

Output:

['Arun', 'Divya', 'Priya', 'Kavin']

extend()

Adds mul ple elements.

[Link](["Rahul", "Meena"])

Removing Elements

remove()

Removes a specific value.

[Link]("Priya")
pop()

Removes element using index.

[Link](1)

pop() without index

Removes last element.

[Link]()

clear()

Removes all elements.

[Link]()

Output:

[]

List Func ons

len()

Returns total number of elements.

len(students)

max()

Returns largest value.

numbers = [10,20,30]

print(max(numbers))

Output:

30

min()

Returns smallest value.

Output:

10

sum()

Returns total.

print(sum(numbers))

Output:

60

Sor ng Lists

sort()

Ascending order.

[Link]()

sort(reverse=True)

Descending order.

[Link](reverse=True)

sorted()

Creates a new sorted list.

sorted(numbers)

Reversing a List

[Link]()
Checking Membership

"Arun" in students

Output:

True

Nested Lists

A list inside another list.

data = [

["Arun", 85],

["Priya", 92]

Access:

print(data[0][1])

Output:

85

LIST COMPREHENSION

A short way to create lists.

numbers = [x for x in range(5)]

Output:

[0,1,2,3,4]

2. TUPLE

What is a Tuple?

A Tuple is a collec on of items.

Tuples are:

 Ordered

 Immutable (cannot be modified)

Example

subjects = ("Python", "SQL", "Sta s cs")

Crea ng Tuples

Normal Tuple

t = (10,20,30)

Single Element Tuple

t = (10,)

Comma is mandatory.

Accessing Elements

subjects[0]

Output:

Python

Nega ve Indexing

subjects[-1]

Output:

Sta s cs

Tuple Slicing

subjects[0:2]

Output:

('Python', 'SQL')
Tuple Opera ons

Concatena on

t1 = (1,2)

t2 = (3,4)

print(t1+t2)

Output:

(1,2,3,4)

Repe on

t = (1,2)

print(t*3)

Output:

(1,2,1,2,1,2)

Tuple Func ons

len()

len(t)

max()

max(t)

min()

min(t)

sum()

sum(t)
Tuple Methods

count()

Counts occurrences.

t = (1,2,2,2,3)

[Link](2)

Output:

index()

Returns posi on.

[Link](3)

Output:

Tuple Packing

student = ("Arun", 21, "Chennai")

Tuple Unpacking

name, age, city = student

List vs Tuple

List Tuple

Mutable Immutable

[] ()

More memory Less memory

Slower Faster
3. DICTIONARY

What is a Dic onary?

Dic onary stores data in Key-Value pairs.

Example:

student = {

"name":"Arun",

"age":21

Characteris cs

 Key-Value Structure

 Mutable

 Keys must be unique

 Values can be duplicated

Crea ng Dic onaries

student = {

"name":"Arun",

"age":21,

"city":"Chennai"

Accessing Values

Using Key

student["name"]

Output:

Arun
Using get()

[Link]("age")

Output:

21

Adding New Items

student["college"] = "ABC College"

Upda ng Values

student["age"] = 22

Removing Items

pop()

[Link]("age")

del

del student["city"]

clear()

[Link]()

Dic onary Methods

keys()

Returns all keys.

[Link]()
values()

Returns all values.

[Link]()

items()

Returns key-value pairs.

[Link]()

update()

Updates dic onary.

[Link]({"city":"Chennai"})

Looping Through Dic onary

Keys

for key in student:

print(key)

Values

for value in [Link]():

print(value)

Key and Value

for key,value in [Link]():

print(key,value)

Nested Dic onary

students = {

"student1":{
 "name":"Arun",

"age":21

},

"student2":{

"name":"Priya",

"age":22

Access:

students["student1"]["name"]

Output:

Arun

Dic onary Comprehension

squares = {x:x*x for x in range(5)}

Output:

0:0,

1:1,

2:4,

3:9,

4:16

}
Summary

List

 Ordered

 Mutable

 Allows duplicates

 Uses []

Tuple

 Ordered

 Immutable

 Allows duplicates

 Uses ()

Dic onary

 Key-Value pairs

 Mutable

 Keys must be unique

 Uses {}

These three data structures are the founda on for working with data in Python and are
widely used in Data Analy cs, Data Science, and Machine Learning projects.