Lists in Python

• Computing
• Lower Secondary (Key Stage 3)

Lists in Python

By Said Ahghari

Data Types

Python supports various data types such as integers, floats, strings, boolean, and lists.

Data Types for Variables

In Python, variables can hold different types of data, such as numbers, strings, boolean, and lists. Each data type has its own characteristics and usage.

Lists

In python one of the most used data structures is a list.

Lists are used to store similar data, one item after another.

For example:

• items you need to buy from a shopping list
• names of students in a class

A list is an example of a 1 Dimensional array.

List Data Type

Lists are a collection of items that can be manipulated and accessed individually. The list data type in Python is used to store multiple values in a single variable. It is denoted by square brackets ([]).

marks = [25, 65, 95, 33]    #a list of 4 numbers  

names = []                              #an empty list

Coding Activity: creating and outputting a list

In Python, create a list of 5 students.  Output the list. 

Solution

myStudents = ["Said", "John", "Iman", "Nour", "Jane"]

print(myStudents)

Finding the number of items in a list

To find the number of items in a list use the len() function.

myStudents = ["Said", "John", "Iman", "Nour", "Jane"]

print(len(myStudents))

Output:

5

List items' position

Each list item is held in a position in the list.

The list position starts from zero (0).

0	1	2	3	4
Said	John	Iman	Nour	Jane

Position (index)

List item

Slide 8: Recap and Summary

In this lesson, we learned about various data types in Python, including numeric, string, boolean, list, tuple, and dictionary data types.