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Dictionary In Python - Beginners Guide:

Author: Billy Peterson
by Billy Peterson
Posted: Aug 16, 2021

The Python programming language is a widely used computer language. It offers a wide range of applications and implementations, making it unique and appealing to developers. One such idea in Python is the dictionary, which is unique and offers Python an advantage over other programming languages. It's a collection similar to a list or a set, but it has several unique characteristics that will be covered in this article.

In Python, what is a dictionary?

It's a collection data type, similar to a list or a set, but it has some qualities that make it stand out. In Python, a dictionary is not ordered and is also mutable. In contrast to sets and strings, which are immutable in nature, we can change the contents of a dictionary. A dictionary, like a map in other computer languages, includes key-value pairs. Indexes are found in dictionaries. We can use the keys we define in a dictionary as indexes to access the elements in a dictionary because their values are always unique.

In addition, there are no duplicate members in a dictionary. Although there is a possibility that the value components in the key-value pairs contain duplicate values.

Why Is It Necessary To Use A Dictionary In Python?

To begin with, it differs from every other object or data type in the Python computer language. A dictionary is similar to a map in that it has key-value pairs. It's frequently used for data that are not in any particular sequence but has distinct key values.

It's similar to a dictionary in real life. We have unique keys that can be used to retrieve the values stated in them. Even though there are no duplicate members in the dictionary, we can specify duplicate members in the value elements. Now that we understand why we use dictionaries, let's look at how they differ from lists in Python.

Lists vs. dictionaries:

Both dictionaries and lists have parallels and differences in Python. The following are some of the characteristics that dictionaries and lists have in common:

  • They are mutable

  • They are dynamic

  • A list can contain another list, and a dictionary can contain yet another dictionary. A dictionary can also be stored in a list, and vice versa.

The major distinction between dictionaries and lists is that, while list components can be accessed via indexing (depending on their position in the list), dictionary elements can only be accessed via keys.

Comprehension is a feature of the Python dictionary.

Dictionary comprehension is a simple and tidy technique of constructing a new dictionary from an iterable in Python. It is made up of an expression pair (key: value) and a for statement enclosed in curly braces. Multiple for or if statements can be found in a dictionary comprehension.

Here's an example of how to make a dictionary with each item consisting of a pair of numbers and their squares:

squares = {x: x*x for x in range(6)}

  • Output: 0: 0, 1: 1, 2: 4, 3: 9, 4: 16, 5: 25,

print(squares)

Also, read Sort Dictionary by Value & Key in Python.

About the Author

Teaching at Favtutor - an online tutoring platform. Java, Python, C++, R, Php, Data Science, Machine Learning.

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Author: Billy Peterson

Billy Peterson

Member since: Jul 28, 2021
Published articles: 14

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