Beyond single values
So far, you’ve stored one value per variable. But what if you need to store multiple values? That’s where data structures come in. Think of data structures as containers:- Lists: Like a shopping list (ordered items)
- Dictionaries: Like a phone book (name > number)
- Tuples: Like coordinates (fixed values)
- Sets: Like a bag of unique items
The main structures
Lists
Ordered, changeable collections
Dictionaries
Key-value pairs for fast lookup
Tuples
Ordered, unchangeable collections
Sets
Unique values only
Which one to use?
- Lists: When order matters and you need to change items
- Dictionaries: When you need to look up values by name
- Tuples: When data shouldn’t change (like coordinates)
- Sets: When you only care about unique values
Python counts from 0, not 1! The first item in any collection is at position 0, the second at position 1, and so on. This is called “zero-based indexing” and you’ll see it throughout Python.
Start learning
Lists are the most common data structure - let’s start there!Learn about lists
Your first data structure