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One of the fist things you’ll most likely encounter with Python are the datatypes lists and dicts. While they initially seem quite simple, things can get awfully complex, awfully fast when you start intermingling the two datatypes. So we’ll start with the basics, then dive into some more complex examples.
Lists
Lists are defined as ‘a collection of different pieces of information as a sequence under a single variable name’. So that’s a fancy way of saying it’s just a list. In Python, lists are defined by using the ‘[]’ brackets. So for example…
# A list with one item
list = ["Jon"]
# A list with multiple items
list = ["Jon", "Matt", "Bill"]
# An empty list
list = []
Items in lists can be accessed by index. For example…
# A list with multiple items
list = ["Jon", "Matt", "Bill"]
print "The second name in the list is " + list[1]
# Result
The second name in the list is Matt
We can also iterate through the list with a simple loop…
# A list with multiple items
list = ["Jon", "Matt", "Bill"]
for name in list:
print name
# Result
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