🐍TUPLES IN PYTHON

Tuples are ordered collections, like lists, but they are immutable. Once created, their elements cannot be changed.

1) What is a Tuple?

A tuple is an ordered, immutable collection of items, enclosed in parentheses ( ). Tuples can contain mixed data types, including other tuples.

# Examples
empty_tuple = ()
single_item = (5,)         # Note the comma for single-item tuple
numbers = (1, 2, 3, 4)
mixed = ("Alice", 25, True)
nested = (1, (2, 3), [4, 5])

2) Accessing Elements

Tuples support indexing and slicing just like lists:

numbers = (10, 20, 30, 40)

print(numbers[0])    # 10
print(numbers[-1])   # 40
print(numbers[1:3])  # (20, 30)

Note: Tuples are immutable, so you cannot modify elements directly.

3) Tuple Operations

You can perform common operations such as concatenation, repetition, and checking membership:

a = (1, 2)
b = (3, 4)

# Concatenation
c = a + b
print(c)  # (1, 2, 3, 4)

# Repetition
d = a * 3
print(d)  # (1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2)

# Membership
print(2 in a)  # True
print(5 not in b)  # True

4) Common Tuple Methods

• count(x) – Returns the number of times x appears
• index(x) – Returns the first index of x

Since tuples are immutable, methods that modify the data (like append, remove) are not available.

5) Advantages of Tuples

• Immutability ensures data cannot be changed accidentally
• Tuples can be used as keys in dictionaries
• Faster than lists for read-only operations
• Safer for storing constant values

6) Common Mistakes

• Forgetting the comma in a single-element tuple → single = (5) ❌ (this is just an int)
• Trying to modify a tuple → t[0] = 10 ❌ raises TypeError
• Using mutable objects inside tuples without caution (e.g., lists inside tuple can be modified)

Next Steps

Next, we will explore Dictionaries, a powerful key-value data structure.

➡️ Next: Dictionaries in Python

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