Python Data Structures - Beginner Notes
1. List
A dynamic array (resizable), stores elements in ordered form.
Example:
fruits = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
fruits.append("orange")
fruits.insert(1, "kiwi")
fruits.remove("banana")
Time Complexity:
Access: O(1), Append: O(1), Insert/Delete: O(n), Search: O(n)
2. Tuple
Immutable ordered list.
Example:
coords = (10, 20)
print(coords[0])
Time Complexity:
Access: O(1), Search: O(n)
3. Set
Unordered collection with unique items.
Example:
nums = {1, 2, 3}
nums.add(4)
nums.remove(2)
Time Complexity:
Add/Remove/Search: O(1)
4. Dictionary
Key-value store.
Example:
person = {"name": "Alice", "age": 25}
person["job"] = "Engineer"
del person["age"]
Time Complexity:
Get/Set/Delete: O(1), Iterate: O(n)
5. Queue (collections.deque)
FIFO structure.
Example:
from collections import deque
q = deque()
q.append("A")
q.popleft()
Time Complexity:
Append/Pop Left: O(1)
6. Stack (list)
LIFO structure.
Example:
stack = []
stack.append(5)
stack.pop()
Time Complexity:
Push/Pop: O(1)
7. Heap (heapq)
Min-heap for priority queue.
Example:
import heapq
nums = [5, 2, 8]
heapq.heapify(nums)
heapq.heappush(nums, 1)
heapq.heappop(nums)
Time Complexity:
heappush/heappop: O(log n), heapify: O(n)
8. Linked List
Nodes connected via pointers.
Example:
class Node:
def __init__(self, val):
self.val = val
self.next = None
class LinkedList:
def add_front(self, val):
new_node = Node(val)
new_node.next = self.head
self.head = new_node
Time Complexity:
Insert/Delete: O(1), Access/Search: O(n)
Comparison Summary
List: fast access, slow insert/delete
Tuple: immutable, fast
Set: fast lookup, no duplicates
Dict: fast key-value operations
Queue: FIFO with O(1) ops
Stack: LIFO with O(1) ops
Heap: efficient min/max
Linked List: good for dynamic memory
