TUPLES, LISTS,

ALIASING,
MUTABILITY,
CLONING
(download slides and .py files and
follow along!)
6.0001 LECTURE 5

6.0001 LECTURE 5 1
 LAST
TIME
functions
 decomposition – create structure
 abstraction – suppress details
 from now on will be using functions a lot

6.0001 LECTURE 5 2
 TOD
AY
have seen variable types: int, float, bool,string
 introduce new compound data types
• tuples
• lists
 idea of aliasing
 idea of mutability
 idea of cloning

6.0001 LECTURE 5 3
 TUPL
ES
 an ordered sequence of elements, can mix element types
cannot change element values, immutable
 represented with parentheses
te = ()
t = (2,"mit",3)
t[0]  evaluates to 2
(2,"mit",3) +  evaluates to (2,"mit",3,5,6)
(5,6)
t[1:2]  slice tuple, evaluates to ("mit",)
t[1:3]  slice tuple, evaluates to ("mit",3)
len(t)  evaluates to 3
t[1] = 4  gives error, can’t modify object
6.0001 LECTURE 5 4
 TUPL
ES
 conveniently used to swap variable values
x = y temp = x (x, y) = (y, x)
y = x x = y
y = temp
 used to return more than one value from a function
def quotient_and_remainder(x, y):
q = x // y
r = x % y
return (q, r)
(quot, rem) =
quotient_and_remainder(4,5)
6.0001 LECTURE 5 5
MANIPULATING
TUPLES aTuple:(( ),( ),( ))
 can iterate over tuples

def get_data(aTuple):
nums( )
nums = () words( ? ? ?
)
words = ()
for t in aTuple: if not already in words
i.e. unique strings from aTuple
nums = nums + (t[0],)
if t[1] not in words:
words = words + (t[1],)
min_n = min(nums)
max_n =
max(nums)
unique_words =
len(words)
6.0001 LECTURE 5 6
 LIS
TS
ordered sequence of information, accessible by index
 a list is denoted by square brackets, []
 a list contains elements
• usually homogeneous (ie, all integers)
• can contain mixed types (not common)
 list elements can be changed so a list is mutable

6.0001 LECTURE 5 7
INDICES AND
ORDERING
a_list = []
L = [2, 'a', 4, [1,2]]
len(L)  evaluates to 4
L[0]  evaluates to 2
L[2]+1  evaluates to 5
L[3]  evaluates to [1,2], another list!
L[4]  gives an error
i = 2
L[i-1]  evaluates to ‘a’ since L[1]='a' above
6.0001 LECTURE 5 8
 CHANGING
ELEMENTS
lists are mutable!
 assigning to an element at an index changes the value
L = [2, 1, 3]
L[1] = 5
 L is now [2, 5, 3], note this is the same object
L
[2,5,3]

L
6.0001 LECTURE 5 9
ITERATING OVER A LIST
 compute the sum of elements of a list
 common pattern, iterate over list elements
total = 0 total = 0
for i in range(len(L)): for i in L:
total += L[i] total += i
print total print total
 notice
• list elements are indexed 0 to len(L)-1
• range(n) goes from 0 to n-
1
6.0001 LECTURE 5 10
 OPERATIONS ON LISTS -
 add elements to end of list with L.append(element)

ADD
mutates the list!
L = [2,1,3]
L.append(5)  L is now [2,1,3,5]

 what is the dot?

• lists are Python objects, everything in Python is an object
• objects have data
• objects have methods and functions
• access this information by object_name.do_something()
• will learn more about these later
6.0001 LECTURE 5 11
 OPERATIONS ON LISTS -
ADD
to combine lists together use concatenation, + operator,
to give you a new list
 mutate list with L.extend(some_list)

L1 = [2,1,3]
L2 = [4,5,6]
L3 = L1 + L2  L3 is
[2,1,3,4,5,6]
L1, L2 unchanged
L1.extend([0,6])  mutated L1 to
[2,1,3,0,6]
6.0001 LECTURE 5 12
OPERATIONS ON
LISTS - REMOVE
 delete element at a specific index with del(L[index])
remove element at end of list with L.pop(), returns the
removed element
 remove a specific element with L.remove(element)
• looks for the element and removes it
• if element occurs multiple times, removes first occurrence
• if element not in list, gives an error
L = [2,1,3,6,3,7,0] # do below in order
L.remove(2)  mutates L = [1,3,6,3,7,0]
L.remove(3)  mutates L = [1,6,3,7,0]
del(L[1])  mutates L = [1,3,7,0]
L.pop()  returns 0 and mutates L = [1,3,7]
6.0001 LECTURE 5 13
 CONVERT LISTS TO
STRINGS AND BACK
convert string to list with list(s), returns a list with every
character from s an element in L
can use s.split(), to split a string on a character parameter,
splits on spaces if called without a parameter
use ''.join(L) to turn a list of characters into a string, can
give a character in quotes to add char between every element
s = "I<3 cs"  s is a string
list(s)  returns ['I','<','3',' ','c','s']
s.split('<')  returns ['I', '3 cs']
L =  L is a list
['a','b','c'  returns "abc"
]  returns "a_b_c"
''.join(L)
6.0001 LECTURE 5 14
OTHER LIST OPERATIONS
 sort() and sorted()
 reverse()
and many more!
https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/datastructures.htm
l

L=[9,6,0,3]
sorted(L)  returns sorted list, does not mutate L
L.sort()  mutates L=[0,3,6,9]
L.reverse()  mutates L=[9,6,3,0]
6.0001 LECTURE 5 15
MUTATION, ALIASING,
CLONING
IMPORTANT
and
TRICKY!
Again, Python Tutor is your best friend
to help sort this out!
http://www.pythontutor.com/
6.0001 LECTURE 5 16
 LISTS IN
MEMORY
lists are mutable
 behave differently than immutable types
 is an object in memory
 variable name points to object
 any variable pointing to that object is affected
 key phrase to keep in mind when working with lists is
side effects

6.0001 LECTURE 5 17
 AN
ANALOGY
attributes of a person
◦ singer, rich
 he is known by many names
 all nicknames point to the same person
• add new attribute to one nickname …
Justin Bieber singer rich
troublemaker
• … all his nicknames refer to old attributes AND all new ones
The Bieb singer rich troublemaker
JBeebs singer
6.0001 LECTURE 5 rich troublemaker18
 ALIAS
ES
hot is an alias for warm – changing one changes
the other!
 append() has a side effect

6.0001 LECTURE 5 19
 CLONING A
LIST
 create a new list and copy every element using
chill = cool[:]

6.0001 LECTURE 5 20
 SORTING
LISTS
calling sort() mutates the list, returns nothing
calling sorted()
does not mutate
list, must assign
result to a variable

6.0001 LECTURE 5 21
 LISTS OF LISTS OF LISTS
OF….
 can have nested lists
side effects still
possible after mutation

6.0001 LECTURE 5 22
 MUTATION AND
ITERATION
Trymutating
 avoid thisa listinas you
def remove_dups(L1, L2):
Python Tutor!
are iterating over it
def remove_dups(L1, L2):
for e in L1: L1_copy = L1[:]
if e in L2: for e in L1_copy:
if e in L2:
L1.remove(e)
L1.remove(e)
L1 = [1, 2, 3, 4]
L2 = [1, 2, 5, 6]
remove_dups(L1, L2)
 L1 is [2,3,4] not [3,4] Why?
• Python uses an internal counter to keep track of index it is in the loop
• mutating changes the list length but Python doesn’t update the counter
• loop never sees element 2
6.0001 LECTURE 5 23