Python

9. Glossary

immutable type

A type in which the elements cannot be modified. Assignments to elements or slices of immutable types cause an error.

mutable type

A data type in which the elements can be modified. All mutable types are compound types. Lists and dictionaries are mutable data types; strings and tuples are not.

tuple

A sequence type that is similar to a list except that it is immutable. Tuples can be used wherever an immutable type is required, such as a key in a dictionary.

tuple assignment

An assignment to all of the elements in a tuple using a single assignment statement. Tuple assignment occurs in parallel rather than in sequence, making it useful for swapping values.

deterministic

A program that does the same thing each time it is called.

pseudorandom

A sequence of numbers that appear to be random but that are actually the result of a deterministic computation.

histogram

A list of integers in which each element counts the number of times something happens.

pattern matching

A program development plan that involves identifying a familiar computational pattern and copying the solution to a similar problem.

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