Tuples and Named Tuples
Explore the use of tuples and named tuples in Python to store multiple pieces of data immutably. Understand how to create tuples, unpack their values, and identify when to use them effectively. Discover the advantages of named tuples for clearer code documentation and learn the importance of avoiding magic numbers through better data structuring techniques.
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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 ...