10.30. Glossary¶
- aliases
Multiple variables that contain references to the same object.
- clone
To create a new object that has the same value as an existing object. Copying a reference to an object creates an alias but doesn’t clone the object.
- delimiter
A character or string used to indicate where a string should be split.
- element
One of the values in a list (or other sequence). The bracket operator selects elements of a list.
- index
An integer variable or value that indicates an element of a list.
- list
A collection of objects, where each object is identified by an index. Like other types
str,int,float, etc. there is also alisttype-converter function that tries to turn its argument into a list.- list traversal
The sequential accessing of each element in a list.
- modifier
A function which changes its arguments inside the function body. Only mutable types can be changed by modifiers.
- mutable data type
A data type in which the elements can be modified. All mutable types are compound types. Lists are mutable data types; strings are not.
- nested list
A list that is an element of another list.
- object
A thing to which a variable can refer.
- pattern
A sequence of statements, or a style of coding something that has general applicability in a number of different situations. Part of becoming a mature Computer Scientist is to learn and establish the patterns and algorithms that form your toolkit. Patterns often correspond to your “mental chunking”.
- pure function
A function which has no side effects. Pure functions only make changes to the calling program through their return values.
- sequence
Any of the data types that consist of an ordered collection of elements, with each element identified by an index.
- side effect
A change in the state of a program made by calling a function that is not a result of reading the return value from the function. Side effects can only be produced by modifiers.
- tuple
A sequential collection of items, similar to a list. Any python object can be an element of a tuple. However, unlike a list, tuples are immutable.