Wednesday Daily Thread: Beginner questions

Posted by AutoModerator@reddit | Python | View on Reddit | 5 comments

Weekly Thread: Beginner Questions 🐍

Welcome to our Beginner Questions thread! Whether you're new to Python or just looking to clarify some basics, this is the thread for you.

How it Works:

Ask Anything: Feel free to ask any Python-related question. There are no bad questions here!
Community Support: Get answers and advice from the community.
Resource Sharing: Discover tutorials, articles, and beginner-friendly resources.

Guidelines:

This thread is specifically for beginner questions. For more advanced queries, check out our Advanced Questions Thread.

Recommended Resources:

If you don't receive a response, consider exploring r/LearnPython or join the Python Discord Server for quicker assistance.

Example Questions:

What is the difference between a list and a tuple?
How do I read a CSV file in Python?
What are Python decorators and how do I use them?
How do I install a Python package using pip?
What is a virtual environment and why should I use one?

Let's help each other learn Python! 🌟

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SourChipmunk@reddit

I am new, and still struggling with addressing dictionaries and lists. Indexing lists is fine, but when they get nested into dictionaries my mind strays.

Reeborg's World made understanding loops and basic logic challenging and fun. Is there anything like that out there that would apply to working with dictionaries?

[-]

PlaysForDays@reddit

Highly nested data structures are confusing for everybody!

I find it's sometimes helpful to expand code out so that it takes up more lines. I internally visualize nested structures (dict of string-list pairs, lists of dicts ... tuple of a mix of everything) in 2-D space so I like having the code represent that a little

For example, rewriting

my_dict = {"a": [0, 3, 1, 1, 1, 4], "b": [0, 1, 2], "z": [8, 2, 0, -4]}

my_dict = {
    "a": [0, 3, 1, 1, 1, 4]
    "b": [-1, 7, 2]
    "z": [8, 2, 0, -4]
}

better reflects one way to think about access data. (Easier on the eyes, easier on the brain.) Now, for example, you can think of my_dict["b"][1] as a two-step process: look up the value associated with the "b" key and then find the "1th" index in that list