Understanding Indexing and Mutability in Python

One of the fundamental features of python is its ability to alter lists, also known as mutability. We will look at a common operation for lists that can modify them …

One of the fundamental features of python is its ability to alter lists, also known as mutability. We will look at a common operation for lists that can modify them

# Initializing the list
my_list = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50]
print(f"Original List: {my_list}")

# Replacing an item by index
my_list[2] = "New Item" # Indexing starts from 0, so the 3rd element is replaced.
print(f"Updated List: {my_list}")

After running this code, my_list will look like [10, 20, 'New Item', 40, 50].

This operation allows for more complex list transformations than just appending or prepending elements. For example, you can update a specific element based on its value using a simple for loop. However, the index-based method is arguably simpler and more readable in many cases.

Remember, lists are mutable, so changing an item at a certain position may affect other parts of your code that use this list (unless it’s a copy of the original list), and care should be taken when dealing with large datasets to avoid unnecessary memory usage.