Data Structures in Python
• Research Presentation - Version 2
• Prepared by: [Your Name]
Background and Motivation
• Modern software development relies heavily on efficient data handling. Python
provides dynamic and built-in data structures that allow developers to write
concise, readable, and efficient code.
• Mastering data structures enables better problem-solving, algorithm
implementation, and system design.
Introduction
• This presentation introduces fundamental and advanced data structures in Python.
• It highlights their characteristics, performance, and best use cases in real-world
programming tasks.
Research Objectives
• - Present Python’s core and advanced data structures.
• - Demonstrate practical uses with code examples.
• - Evaluate each structure’s performance and memory usage.
• - Encourage best practices in choosing the right structure.
Scope of the Research
• This research focuses on native Python data structures (lists, dictionaries, sets,
etc.) and modules like collections and array.
• It does not cover third-party libraries like NumPy or Pandas, nor does it go into
low-level data structure implementation in C.
Research Methodology
• The approach includes:
• - Reviewing official Python documentation.
• - Hands-on experiments with code snippets.
• - Analyzing time and space complexity.
• - Comparing performance via practical tasks.
Python’s Built-in Data Types
• Python offers flexible and powerful data types:
• - Numbers, Strings, Booleans
• - Sequences: Lists, Tuples, Ranges
• - Sets and Frozensets
• - Dictionaries (key-value mappings)
Lists: Dynamic Arrays
• - Ordered, mutable collections of items.
• - Common operations: append, pop, slice, sort.
• - Used in loops, stacks, queues, and data processing.
• Time Complexity: Access O(1), Insert/Delete O(n)
Tuples and Ranges
• - Tuples: Immutable, ordered structures for fixed datasets.
• - Useful for returning multiple values and ensuring data integrity.
• - Ranges: Generate numeric sequences efficiently without storing values.
Dictionaries in Depth
• - Stores data as key-value pairs.
• - Highly optimized for lookup and insertion.
• - Applications: storing records, indexing, configuration.
• Methods: get(), keys(), values(), items()
Sets and Frozensets
• - Unordered collections of unique elements.
• - Fast membership tests and set algebra (union, intersection).
• - Frozensets: immutable version of sets.
• Common in filtering and uniqueness checks.
Using collections Module
• - defaultdict: Provides default values for missing keys.
• - deque: Fast double-ended queue operations.
• - Counter: Counting elements in iterables.
• - OrderedDict: Maintains insertion order (pre-3.7).
Stacks, Queues, and Heaps
• - Stack (LIFO): Using list or deque.
• - Queue (FIFO): Using deque or queue module.
• - Priority Queue: heapq implements a binary heap.
• Applications: job scheduling, AI, parsing.
Conclusion & Future Work
• Data structures are critical for writing efficient programs.
• Python provides simple syntax but powerful tools to handle data.
• Developers should benchmark structures in context and practice with real-world
problems.
References
• - Python.org Documentation
• - Real Python Tutorials
• - "Fluent Python" by Luciano Ramalho
• - GeeksforGeeks Python DSA
• - Official docs for collections and heapq modules
